


Lovers In London

by whythefujamievenonthis



Category: Dofty - Fandom, Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dofty, Gay, M/M, victorian london
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2018-12-29 21:21:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12093672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whythefujamievenonthis/pseuds/whythefujamievenonthis
Summary: Set in an Alternate Universe Victorian London, Lofty Chiltern is a common worker: all his time and effort has gone into working at the factory despite his clumsiness. Dominic Copeland is a Lord who lives in a luxurious manor just outside London Town, he also has a short temper. What will happen when these two forces collide?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not live in London so I’ve tried my best to try and be accurate with places and street names as much as possible. I’m sorry if I make any mistakes.
> 
> Special thanks to OldPaleGoth for the amazing prompt! 
> 
> Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more of this story, I loved writing it!

 

It was smoggy and damp January Monday morning in Victorian London, Lofty woke from his thin (and very uncomfortable) straw mattress on the floor and opened the cracked window; taking in a lungful of coal dust as he tried to breathe in the morning air. There was no need to get dressed since he already was, it wasn’t like he could afford a second set of clothes or pajamas on his salary, so he wore the same set of clothes day in day out (sleeping in them to keep warm in the night). He tried his best to look and keep as clean as possible despite his circumstances; washing his (what used to be) white, thin shirt whenever he had the time and always resewing patches and rips in his threadbare and scratchy waist coat over and over. His shoes weren’t exactly useable (the sole in one of them had nearly completely worn away) and his socks were covered in holes. The one thing he did like about his appearance was his new cap (which he used to hide his mass of dark curly hair). The cap itself was immaculate and as good as the day he’d bought it; he’d saved up for months on end to buy it on christmas day (as a present to himself) and he intended to keep it as long as he could - it was his prized possession. His wages at the factory weren’t too bad, well they were, but he could just about manage to live and eat off them (a luxury most families in his area couldn’t afford), but then again, he didn’t have a family to provide for: no wife, no children. Just him. He looked around at his dilapidated house, technically his dilapidated corner (since he shared the small room with  two families of three and his friend from the factory. He looked through the window to see the Big Ben, and realised it was almost time for him to head to work, so there’d be no time for breakfast (not that there was any food in the room to eat). Another morning like any other.

 

Lord Dominic Copeland woke up alone in his four poster bed like he did every morning, normally, he would pay to heed to the time on the clock and would get out of bed of his own accord. But that morning in particular was different, his footman had come in and woken him up early to inform him he was due to tour one of his many factories. Lord Copeland was a wealthy man who owned companies and trade deals throughout the country, apart from keeping on top of those, his main job was to go around touring his factories and workshops to see that they were to his standard. Not that he really cared anyway, at most he would extra hours onto workers shifts so production time would shorten. The morning his footman woke him early he was in a particularly bad mood, and was quick to fire bullets from his gun of power:

 

“You, footman, what’s your name?” He asked as he ate his glorious breakfast in the comfort of his own bed.

 

“Thistle, sir, John Thistle.” Replied the footman nervously.

 

“That’s Lord to you Thistle.” Corrected Dom, before the footman had the chance to apologise he continued to speak, “How long have you been my footman for?”

 

“Several months my Lord.” Answered the man.

 

“Very good, very good… You are relieved of your position.” Said Dominic casually as he finished his plate of food. The footman was dumbstruck and unable to respond for a long while, but eventually was able to fumble out a few words:

 

“Relieved of- I’ve been fired my Lord?” It was almost as if a look of relief washed over him, till he realised his financial position was hindered by being sacked, “But my Lord this is the only place I know, are you sure there’s no way I could make it up to you-”

 

“Stop your whimpering it’s loud and annoying. You’ve lost your position as footman so you’ll be working in the kitchens. I’m aware of your struggle to find housing so you’re still allowed to live in the Manor as discussed.”

 

“Oh, oh thank you my sir, thank you so much-”

 

“Be quiet.” The Lord commanded, “No thank yous are wanted. Leave my bedchamber immediately and get to work in the kitchens. Understood? I’m done with my tray take it with you.”

 

“Understood my Lord.” Responded the now ex-footman as he grabbed the tray from the Lord’s lap, he ushered himself out of the room but before he left he said one last thing, “My Lord the carriage I arranged to take you to one of your factories will arrive at 11:30am, it is now 8:30am-”

“I’m aware of what time it is now get out!” Cried Dominic. He was seriously losing his patience with the infernal ex-footman.

 

After that Lord Dominic got out of bed and prepared for the factory overview he was due to attend, he didn’t particularly care about looking nice for the occasion so he put on his cheapest set of clothes and shoes (both of which were still extremely expensive and fashionable to the time) and he entertained himself with reading till it was time to leave for the factory. For Lord Dominic Copeland it wa sa morning like any other. He made a mental note that he was in need of a new footman as he sat in the carriage that was taking him to the factory.

 

Lofty started work at 6:30am, and his shift didn’t end until 8:30pm that night, the usual work hours. His job in the factory was as an operator for the machinery, the factory itself used raw cotton and made it into material used to make clothes and hats and other items of clothing, and Lofty was happy enough to do it. He used to be a chimney sweep as a child, but when he grew too big to climb up the chimneys he had to give it up. Not long after that, he lost both his parents to a Cholera outbreak and was left penniless and homeless, and for a long while he lived on the cold cobbled streets of London. Whilst on the streets he became a tosher (someone who scoured the streets for dropped farthings and, if they were lucky, shillings) but that barely fed him. One day whilst looking for coins a man came up to him, offered him a job in a factory since they were in need of workers, and Lofty happily obliged. On his first ever day at the factory he looked a mess; his shirt and trousers were filthy, his waist coat was covered in coal marks and mud and his shoes were scrapped and battered (from then on he refused to show up to work untidy). He was eighteen when the man (who later turned out to be the manager of the factory) found him and gave him the job, and he never looked back since then. Maybe it was because the old man took pity on him, or because he found him to be a good enough worker, but Lofty had managed to keep his position in the factory for a long while. It’d been ten years since he’d first received the job and he hoped to keep it ten years more, the last thing he wanted to do was work in the mines, he hated the dark. On that particular day he was teaching a new worker the ropes of the machinery, they weren’t too old, probably younger than when he first started, and Lofty was quick to learn they were a talkative personality:

 

“When dad told me I got a job now, I was proper excited Mister! I was scared I’d be all fingers and thumbs on the machinery but I think I got the hang of this now. After dad got in that accident he ain’t been able to work y’see, I’m the provider since mam’s busy raising my five siblings at home, she used to make matches before she had to give it up - she’s pregnant again y’see, so I’ll soon be the eldest of seven children Mister.”

 

“Very good, just, keep your eyes on the machinery, I've watched too many people lose fingers to this thing. So if you’re all fingers and thumbs now you might not be later if you don’t concentrate. Alright?”

 

“How’ve you not lost any fingers Mister if everyone thinks you’re so clumsy?” Asked the boy, he’d obviously already seen or heard of Lofty’s clumsiness.

 

“They don’t think I’m clumsy, I am clumsy, but I concentrate when I’m on the machines and I’ve been doing this too long to mess up.” For a split second, Lofty turned away from the boys work after hearing the manager shout his name, but when he turned back around the was quick to notice the boy was already making a huge mistake, he let out a loud and assertive “Stop!” before jumping in to fix the error, “You were putting too much pressure on the valve, the machine was about to blow up in your face!”

 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I can’t believe I messed up so badly. Am I fired Mister?”

 

“No of course not, it takes time to get used to the machinery, I probably made the same mistake on my first day here. Are you hurt?”

 

“No mister I’m alright.”

 

Lofty heard the manager shout his name again from his office, Lofty grimaced slightly at the thought of leaving the boy to his own devices, so he quickly asked the worker beside them to keep an eye on the lad whilst he went to talk with the manager. When he arrived at the manager’s office (which was directly above the workers stations via a steel staircase) he politely knocked before being told to come in. He took his hat off in the office to be respectful, the manager smiled at him and eventually spoke:

 

“You know Lofty, you’ve been working here for ten years now.” The manager had always called him Lofty, it was how his nickname came about: in order to keep him off the streets the manager had him live in the loft of an empty stately home (due to be sold to another person) till he could find himself a more permanent place to live. “You’ve worked very hard since the first day you got here.”

 

“Well sir you have me the job, you got me off the streets and you gave me help. Hard work is the least I could do to repay you for everything.”

 

“Yes, so I was thinking; how would you like to be my representative for the workers in this factory today? The man who owns the company that runs this factory is coming down to see what it works like.”

 

“I’d love to sir, really I would, but I already have duties today. I’m watching over one of the new workers, the young talkative boy, making sure he doesn’t get hurt or hurt anyone else for that matter.”

 

“Good lad Lofty, I understand, I’ll get someone else to fill in for you-”

 

Suddenly a loud bang and piercing cry of pain was heard within the factory. Lofty felt his heart jump into his throat as he ran to the staircases to see what had happened - the boy he’d been watching over had hurt himself. He ran down the staircases and made his way over to the accident: the machine was completely bust, bits of metal lying all over the floor; and the boy was lying there too, curled up in a little ball and clutching his left arm. On closer inspection Lofty could see that tiny bits of metal from the explosion had pierced into the boy’s arm, making him bleed badly. No one else was hurt since the boy took most of the hit of the explosion, Lofty saw the man he’d told to watch the boy stood there and immediately saw red:

 

“I told you to watch him!” he exclaimed as he made his way over to the man. “I told you to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t make any mistakes. Where were you?” Lofty was getting madder and madder by the second.

 

“Where were _you_?” the man retaliated back, “Weren’t you the one meant to watch over him? Keep him safe? Make sure he didn’t cause an accident? Well you’re doing a fine job of that aren’t you!”

 

“I had to speak to our manager.”

 

“Couldn’t that have waited? Or if it couldn’t, shouldn’t you have told the lad to stay away from the machinery whilst you were gone?”

 

Lofty froze, the man was right, any form of an answer he conjured in his head only sounded like an excuse now (and a poor one at that). Suddenly, a loud and furious voice entered the conversation:

 

“What is going on in _my_ factory?”

 

It was Lord Dominic Copeland. They hadn’t realised he’d come in to already, he’d probably walked in just as the accident took place, the manager soon followed behind him. Lofty couldn’t make eye contact with the old man, he knew he was solely to blame and couldn’t believe he’d thrown away the opportunity the manager had given him all those years ago.

 

“Lofty? What’s happened?” The manager didn’t sound too angry, he was concerned more than anything else.

 

“I’ll tell you what happened,” the other worker cut in, “Lofty let the new lad work the machinery alone.”

 

“But I was busy speaking to him. I told him to come to my office as an order.” The elderly manager tried his best to defend Lofty, the curly haired worker was almost like a son to him, so the last thing he wanted to do was fire him.

 

“No sir he’s right. I should’ve been there, you’d’ve understood if I’d just stayed down here to make sure he didn’t hurt himself. Or I could’ve told him to keep off the machine till I came back - I wasn’t thinking and it’s all my fault.” Lofty felt completely ashamed of himself, being stood in front of the manager, the Lord who owned the factory and every worker in the building was a shameful experience for him to say the least.

 

“Lofty…” The old man could feel his heart breaking at the inevitable outcome, “You’ve worked here for 10 years! You’re good at what you do. I can’t fire you.”

 

“But I can.” Stated Lord Dominic. He stared at Lofty for a long time, took a few steps toward him till he was completely in Lofty's face, and spoke again:

 

“Get. Out.”

 

He quietly stated. He said it in a way that didn’t require him to yell, it was like those two words were laced with venom and the curly haired worker winced as he heard them. Lofty soon felt tears come to his eyes, he didn’t want anyone to watch him get so upset so he quickly ran out of the factory and into the bustling London streets. The elderly manager objected to the cruel punishment as soon as Lofty was gone:

 

“What has he ever done to you? He is a hard worker that’s kept this factory running like clockwork! He knows the mechanics of these machines better than anybody-”

 

“But apparently not well enough!” retorted Lord Copeland, “I’ve been here for a mere 20 minutes and already one of my machines has been completely destroyed.”

 

“It was one mistake my Lord.”

 

“But it was a mistake that has wasted time, and time is money. If he is preventing me from making money then I believe the punishment I dished out was fair and just.”

 

“He has nowhere to go, working here was the only thing keeping him off the streets!” continued the manager, he refused to go down without a fight.

 

“He must have parents he can turn to, or a family of his own, does his wife not work?”

 

“His parents died almost 15 years ago when he was thirteen. I found him 5 years later on the streets, a beggar. He has no wife, or children for that matter, he invested everything into his work here at the factory.”

 

Dominic froze, a sense of unease and guilt swept over him, but he tried his best to cover it up: “Well how was I supposed to know that? I’m done talking about the matter, let’s get this visit over with, and someone take that boy to a hospital - he’s making too much noise.”

 

The young boy (who’d been lying on the floor throughout all this) was quickly picked up by two other workers and dragged off to be taken to a hospital. The rest of the Lord’s tour went off without a hitch, but the manager (who was walking him though the factory) was downtrodden and monotone in his words - maybe after work he could go find Lofty and give him his job back without the Lord’s knowledge? Around 2 hours later Dominic’s tour of the building was over, and he was stepping into his carriage to go back to his manor house where his dinner would be waiting for him. The manager tried his best to smile and wish Dominic a safe journey back, but he couldn’t muster up anything genuine.

 

When Dominic got home he tried not to think of the day’s events, but the guilt was still there writhing inside him, for the first time ever he felt bad for what he’d done and he didn’t like that feeling. He tried to distract himself from those feelings throughout the week but nothing worked: reading, writing, organising production hours and schedules and much more. When Saturday came around he decided to go and look for the curly haired worker, he didn’t know what he was going to say or do, but he had to eradicate those feelings somehow, no matter what it took. He asked for a carriage to be prepared to take him into the centre of London town, and he was soon on his way, whilst in the carriage he was thinking of what he would say but nothing seemed right. When he stepped out of the horse drawn vehicle, he informated the driver to be there at the same spot to pick him up in 3 hours time, this meant he had more than enough time to find the curly haired worker and talk to him. He decided to walk down the slum area of London town (since that’s where he thought Lofty would be), his clothing was definitely out of place in the slum area, and he received menacing glares and looks from passers-by, but he continued his search regardless. He was shocked at the conditions of the slums: open sewer lines, a permanent cloud of coal dust hung in the air from the cheaply made street lamps, houses without front doors and cracked or even missing windows, beggar children would look at him, hopeful for a few copper pennies, it was a complete opposite to how he grew up. An hour in, there was no sign of Lofty anywhere, it was a bit of a long shot since Dominic was pretty much aimlessly walking around the crowded slums with no sense of where to look. He almost felt like giving up till he heard the voice of a disgruntled woman outside her door, smoking a cheap cigarette :

 

“That curly headed bugger, not paying his rent on time.” she said to herself.

 

He immediately made his way over to her to speak, “Excuse madam, are you talking about a young man named Lofty?”

 

The woman paused for a while, taking in the sight of a wealthy man at her doorstep, “Lofty Chiltern? Yeah I am, what’s it to you?” she asked.

 

Dominic quickly presented two Crown coins from his pocket and he saw the woman’s eyes light up, “I need to find him.” the young Lord stated. He walked closer to her and dropped the two coins into her already open hand, she clutched the money closely to her chest before she spoke again:

 

“I kicked him out this morning, wasn’t paying his rent. No rent, no living space. Simple.”

 

“Do you know where I could find him?”

 

She took a long drag of her cigarette and exhaled it into Dominic’s face, he tried not to react in case she found him rude, eventually she spoke again, “I told him to take all his belongings out this morning, wasn’t much for him to carry. He tried to sound all hopeful, said he was gonna try and find work on Fleet Street, and if not, Adam Street. I bet he’s toshing no doubt.”

 

A surge of hope ran through Dominic at the thought of finally finding Lofty, he quickly thanked the woman and speedily made his way out of the slums and towards the direction of Fleet Street. When he arrived there he couldn’t find Lofty, he checked every route and door way and asked any one who looked like they might know him if there knew where he was, but to no avail. He then made his way to Adam Street, when he came across the Adelphi Theatre, he decided to looks around the building’s parameters, just in case anyone was there that could help him find Lofty. As he turned the corner to the side entrance of the theatre, he saw a tall man balled up against the doorway of the side entrance, he couldn’t see the man’s face but he could see he had a head of dark curly hair. A balloon of hope inflated inside Dominic as he made his way over to the man:

 

“Mr Chiltern?” He asked.

 

The man on the doorstep reacted to the name and looked up, sure enough it was Lofty. His eyes looked red raw and Dom’s sense of guilt immediately came back to haunt him, it took him a couple seconds, but Lofty soon realised who was speaking to, and a look of fear spread across his face.

 

“Please sir, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any harm. Don’t send me to the workhouse, I’ll do anything-”

 

“Will you let me speak?” Asked Dominic, seemingly calm as he watched the flustered Lofty try to defend himself. He quickly noticed the cap that Lofty was wearing the day he’d fired him was nowhere to be seen, “Where’s your cap? It looked new.”

 

“It was sir. But I had to sell it off for money.”

 

“How come?”

 

“No dropped coins around here to find, not enough money to get the bus to another area of London and I’m too tired to walk. I haven’t eaten in 3 days, I had to sell it to buy food.” Lofty admitted, Dom could see him getting upset at the thought of having to give up his precious thing and his heart ached for him.

 

“Where’d you sell it?” Asked Dominic.

 

“What?”

 

“I said where did you sell the cap.”

 

“A shop on Savoy Place, why?”

 

“Do you know how to find it?”

 

“Yes, but why-”

 

“I want you to take me to it, now, please.”

 

Lofty looked at him for a long while, a look of confusion spread across his face, but he silently agreed and got himself off of the floor to accompany the Lord to Savoy Place. They walked in silence, neither of them being able to think of what to say. Dominic was quick to notice the glares from more slum dwellers but they all stayed away, he didn’t know why this was till he saw the glinting blade in Lofty’s hand.

 

“Why are you holding a knife.” Dom hissed as they continued to walk.

 

“I grew up on the streets, you’d be stupid to not have a knife on you, but because your outfit doesn’t scream practical or street slummer, I guess you don’t have a weapon on you for protection?”

 

“Who said I needed protection?”

 

“The people who are staring at your money purse did. Look, just be quiet and keep walking, if anything happens I’ll need you to run off and let me handle them. You’ll be no good in a fight.”

 

“You’ve had fights?”

 

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I? I lived in the slums of London of course I’ve been in fights. You really have no clue do you?”

 

“Excuse me?” Said Dom, slightly offended by Lofty’s words.

 

“Nothing.” Sighed Lofty, “Just, keep walking.”

 

They briskly made their way through the streets they need to pass through in order to get to the shop, Dom had no idea where he was and was relying solely on his trust that Lofty wasn’t taking him to  a dead end to mug him, and that he really did know where he was going. His trust was dead on, they eventually got to the shop and Dom quickly entered, Lofty still didn’t know why Dom had asked to go to the shop - it was much to common for a man of his wealth to be purchasing items from. When they entered the shopkeeper (who was a skinny man with grey stubble lining his jaw, he was wearing an apron that was in desperate need of a wash), Dom was quick to notice how dusty the establishment was, like nothing had been touched for decades.

 

“Are you sure this is the place?” he muttered to Lofty.

 

“Quite certain sir, I only sold the cap yesterday. Around mid-day I think.”

 

Dominic then turned his attention to the lean shopkeeper; “My friend here sold you a cap at around mid-day yesterday, I’d like to buy it back.”

 

“You’re friends?” Scoffed the shopkeeper, “The pair of you couldn’t be more different!”

 

“It’s an unlikely pairing I’m quite aware of that, just let me buy his cap back.”

 

“What's it look like?”

 

Lofty joined the conversation to give a description: “Well, it’s grey with my initials sewn into it, “L.C” on the inside of it.”

 

“Ahh, yes, I kept it in the back, I must tell you though that I don’t do refunds.”

 

“Yes I thought as much.” Dom commented as the greying shop keeper looked for the cap, he eventually produced it from the cupboard next to the counter. He double checked Lofty’s initials were in fact on the inside of the cap, when he was satisfied that they were he handed the cap to Lofty, who was beaming as he immediately put it back on again.

 

“3 and a half crowns.” Stated the shopkeeper, he saw money signs as soon as Dominic walked it and planned on making the most of it

 

“3 and a half crowns?” Repeated Lofty, dumbfound, "You bought it off me for 1 crown!”

 

“If you’re gonna muck me about, about buying and selling then I want compensation for you wasting my time! You’re lucky I didn’t make it more.”

 

“Mr Chiltern it’s quite alright, 3 and a half crowns is most definitely within my price range.” Dominic stated as he produced the money and handed it over to shopkeeper. Before Lofty could protest Dom spoke again, “Don’t say I shouldn’t have bought it Mr Chiltern, I owe you a lot more than just a cap after the way I treated you on Monday. Come on then, the carriage will be at the meeting place soon.” Dom then made his way out of the shop and Lofty followed behind him, when they were back onto the street Lofty fumbled out words of thanks:

 

“I greatly appreciate that sir, I don’t know what to say apart from thank you.”

 

“Don’t mention it, I realised the way I treated on Monday was barbaric and what I did to you was just as bad, if not worse. I shouldn’t have let my bad mood get the best of me.”

 

“What are you trying to say sir?” Asked Lofty, he knew exactly what it was but he wanted to see of he could get an apology out of the Lord - like a small victory to himself.

 

“What I’m trying to say, is that… Is that I’m sorry.”

 

“Well, apology accepted!” Responded Lofty.

 

“You position at the factory is still available, you know. You could have your job back today.”

 

Lofty froze in one spot and thought for a little while, eventually he shook his head and spoke, “No sir I can’t go back, not after what I did. That poor boy… Is he alright?”

 

“He’s perfectly fine, the surgeon that operated on him did a fine job, all he has now is a few scars from the accident that will fade over time.”

 

“That’s good.” Lofty stated, they soon arrived back at Adam Street by the Adelphi Theatre, Lofty shook the Lord’s hand and thanked him (for what he thought would be the last time):

 

“Well this is me sir, I’ll probably have more luck with toshing tomorrow, it being Sunday and all, someone’s bound to drop their donation money on the way to church. Thank you for getting my cap back, it means alot to me.”

 

“Oh no, you’re not sleeping there again. Please follow me.”

 

Lofty pulled another face of confusion, but obediently followed the Lord on his journey, on the walk he tried to figure out what Dominic had in store; _Is he gonna put me in a workhouse?_ He thought to himself, he worried that that was to be the outcome of the lengthened journey, so he was quite shocked to get to Dominic’s carriage, only to be asked to get into the vehicle with him:

 

“Come now Lofty, a proper bed to sleep on sounds much better than the pavement, don’t you agree?”

 

“Where are you gonna take me?” Lofty was defensive about entering the carriage - he had few people in his life he could trust, so to see the man who’d fired him then ask him to get into a luxuriously furnished carriage with him, made him highly suspicious.

 

“Back to the manor house, I have a proposition for you that I’d like you to take up. I can talk about it in detail on our way there, if you would please step on to the carriage.”

 

Lofty didn’t respond to the young Lord’s words, he didn’t nod or shake his head in agreement or disapproval - he just stood there for a long while till he eventually clambered onto the carriage and sat himself down in on of the comfortable red velvet seats. Dom gave the order to the carriage driver to take them back to his manor, and he got into the carriage as well (sat opposite to Lofty). For a long while there was silence whilst the two of them took in the scenery of London town as they made their way through it. Eventually, Dom spoke:

 

“I have a proposition for you. I’m in need of a new Footman, you seem to be able to meet the requirements just fine.”

  
“Pardon sir?”

 

“You’ll be living at the Manor of course,” continued Dom, “And the pay in considerably better than what you were receiving at the factory, or on the streets for that matter.”

 

“I’m sorry, you want me to work at your house?”

 

“My manor house yes, keep up Mr Chiltern. A permanent position at the manor, a good wage and a definite and comfortable place to live and sleep.”

 

“Why me?”

 

“The manager at the factory said so himself: you’re hard worker, and you’ve never been late for work, you’ve always tried hard and you knew the job inside and out. I need a hard working person to fill the position, and you’re perfect for the job. Simple.”

 

“This is all happening pretty fast.” Stated Lofty genuinely surprised, he thought he’d be sent a workhouse, not a stately manor to work for a wealthy Lord.

 

“Do you want the job or not?” Asked Dom bluntly.

 

“Yes, of course, I’d love to have the job. What would it require me to do?”

 

“Keep my schedule, make sure I don’t double book myself with people, get me up and out of bed on time for tours and meetings about shares with other companies. Seeming as you did a good job back at the alley, you also need to keep me protected at all times when I’m not in the manor.”

 

“So, like an efficient bodyguard?”

 

“Precisely. Now, do we have a deal?”

 

“Definitely, I can definitely do that!” Replied Lofty, with zest and excitement outlining every word.

 

“Great, you’ll be starting immediately. Well, not exactly, we’ll have you get you fitted for a uniform-”

 

“Uniform?”

 

“Well you can’t walk around the manor dressed in those clothes, there’s uniform staff need to follow, I expect you too as well, any problem with that?”

 

“Oh no not at all, I’ve never been fitted for clothes before, or shoes or anything like that. When I was able to afford it I’d get myself a new shirt or trousers for work. But that’d take months. Do the clothes come out my wage?”

 

“No, I’m a wealthy man so your uniform will be paid for by me Mr Chiltern.”

 

“Thank you sir. I’m sorry if this sounds rude of me, I mean no disrespect, but could you not call me ‘Mr Chiltern’ please? Call me Lofty, Lofty is fine.”

 

“Alright then, Lofty.” Replied Dom, he didn’t say anything for a brief moment, but he eventually looked at Lofty dead on (a genuine smile on his face):

 

“Then you can call me Dom.”


	2. Lessons In Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dom shows Lofty around the Manor, but what will Dom do when he realises he's going out of his way for Lofty?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to oldpalegoth for the original prompt! <3

When the carriage arrived at Lord Dominic’s manor house, Lofty was taken aback, the beautiful exterior of the house had caught him off guard: the stunning red brick work, the white accents that outlined the windows and corners of the building, the stunning dark brown furnishings of the infinite number of windows and so much more. It was overwhelming, it was a much prettier image then that of the slums. Dom however seemed less impressed with the building and simply took it for granted as per usual, he immediately stepped out the carriage and made his way over to the front door to be let in, he noticed Lofty was still sat in the carriage (he was busy taking in his new surroundings).

 

“Come now Lofty, don’t sit there carelessly in the carriage, your job starts immediately!”

 

These words broke Lofty from his almost hypnotic state, he fumbled out of the carriage but as he did so he managed to trip somehow and landed nearly flat on his face, he tried to act as if nothing had happened and he hoped Dom would continue to keep a straight face despite having seen his clumsiness. The pair of them made their way up the steps and to the great mahogany door and waited to be let in, when the door was opened and they stepped inside, Lofty was even more blown away by the grandeur interior of the already impressive stately home; he immediately took of his hat to be respectful, but quickly regretted this since all of his curly hair fell into his face.

 

“If you’d like, you can wear your cap with your uniform, I trust the colours will match well.” Said Dom.

 

“I don’t have to wear a uniform cap?”

 

“Why, would you like one?”

 

 

“Not... Not particularly no sir, I’d like to take you up on the offer of wearing this one for work, if you don’t mind.”

 

“Not at all, it’s your cap after all.”

 

They made their way down the hallway and into the main part of the manor house; maids were scurrying about and butlers were keeping busy, it reminded Lofty of a large beehive as he walked through the halls, but he was quick to learn the worker bees weren’t very welcoming to his arrival, comments like “Why him, a street rat?” and “I could smell him before I saw him.” were passed around in hurried whispers as he walked past them, Dom could hear these cruel words so stepped in.

 

“You, worker.” He said, pointing at one of the gossipers, “I want you to tell every worker in the building that if I hear they’ve so much as rudely commented about Lofty’s shoes, I will have them removed from their position and thrown out immediately, including yourself. Understood?”

 

“Yes my Lord, very much my Lord.” Answered the worker, who then quickly walked away to begin spreading Dominic’s word.

 

“You don’t have to fire them, I suppose it’s natural for them to think that way about me. I am just a slummer after all.”

 

“They’ve all come from their own back grounds, many of them should understand the meaning of struggle and hardship when they see it. They have no excuse to put you under scrutiny.”

 

“Whatever you think is best then, sir.”

 

The rest of their journey to the fitting room was spent in silence, when they arrived for Lofty to be measured and fitted for a uniform, the jolly clothes maker appeared and shook Lofty warmly by the hand.

 

“Oh hello my dear boy, my name is Elliot Hope! I’ll be fitting you for your uniform, very exciting I know, I must ask what size in clothing you are?”

 

“I’m afraid I don’t Mr Hope-”

 

“Do call me Elliot, I can’t abide being called ‘Mr’ or ‘Sir’, I insist on you calling me by my first name.”

 

“Oh, okay Mr- I mean, Elliot, I’m Lofty. I don’t know what size clothing I am, I just buy whatever fits.”

 

“Well, we’ll soon rectify that, if you could put yourself on the little platform over there and we can start making measurements.”

 

Mr Elliot Hope had been making clothes for decades, ever since he was a young boy, he’d dressed people from all over the globe and from all origins, so had no problem measuring Lofty given his background (which made Lofty feel more comfortable about being there). Lofty stood on the platform and stayed there, eventually he could hear Elliot chuckling to himself.

 

“Oh Lofty, I can’t measure you accurately if you’re wearing all your clothes, I’m afraid your going to have to undress, just to your skivvies mind.”

 

He looked slightly uncomfortable but Lofty did as he was told and took off his waistcoat, shirt, shoes, socks and trousers. He stood there in the middle of the room feeling very uncomfortable since he could feel someone’s piercing gaze hit him. It was Dom, he was taking in the numerous scars and cuts sprawled across Lofty’s back, trying to figure out their history and how they got there.

 

_I live in the slums of London of course I’ve been in fights._

 

There was a moment of silence before Elliot spoke: “My Lord this is the part where you leave.”

 

Dominic immediately broke his one sided eye contact with Lofty, realising what he’d been doing he began to blush slightly as he responded to Elliot’s statement, “Oh, oh yes of course I know that, I was um.. I was testing you is all. I’ll um, oh just inform me when Lofty is finished being measured.” He then quickly ushered himself out the room, his cheeks were blushed pink with embarrassment, Lofty smiled boyishly at the Lord’s reaction to being caught staring. Elliot didn’t seem phased by the scars and began taking measurements like they weren’t there at all.

 

“Are the scars not unsightly to you, Elliot?” Asked Lofty quietly as Elliot got to work, he hated the fact he was covered in scars, even if he was never the one to start them it made it physically apparent he’d been in numerous fights over the years.

 

“My dear boy I have dressed countless people, all scarred in someway or another, visible or not. Besides, each scar has history, whether you like them or not you should learn to wear them with pride.”

 

Lofty tried to smile at the clothes maker’s words but it was less than genuine. After around 15 minutes of measuring, Elliot Hope grabbed his book of previous customers and scanned through the names and their measurements, eventually he let out a “Ah, there we are, perfect!”

 

“Everything alright sir- Elliot?” Asked Lofty, the whole first name basis was going to take some getting used to.

 

“Lofty you’re in luck, a previous worker here -a Mr Issac Mayfield, left his uniform behind after his resignation. And it just so happens I kept it in storage! His measurements match yours near perfectly!”

 

“That’s lucky.” Remarked Lofty

 

“It most certainly is! I’ll just head to the storage room and grab the uniform and you can try it on.”

 

Elliot walked to the small closet on the other side of the room that he referred to as “Storage”, he disappeared into the closet for a couple minutes but when he reappeared (uniform in hand), he had a look of triumph on his face.

 

“Here we are Lofty, still clean, and ready to go! Just try it on for me and if it fits I’ll make another set of them so you’ll always have a clean uniform for work, sound good? I hope you don’t mind the second hand uniform?”

 

“Yes Elliot thank you very much. Not at all, I’m grateful for the new clothes even if someone's worn them before. The shop I normally go to, you’re lucky if you get sixth hand clothes, and they’re nowhere near as clean as these.”

 

“Well then try them on!”

 

Lofty did just that, but after putting on his shirt and trousers, he noticed two elastic straps with clips on them, he held them in his hands and stared at them (almost hoping looking at them long enough would tell him what they were).

 

“Lofty those are suspenders.” Stated Elliot,

 

“Oh… What do I do with them, sorry?” Asked Lofty, he felt slightly ridiculous.

 

“I’ll show you,” Elliot made his way over to Lofty and began strapping the suspenders down, “You clip them onto the fronts and backs of your trousers, and the strap then goes over your shoulder.”

 

“Thank you Elliot.”

 

Elliot smiled back at Lofty, and looked him up and down (making sure that what he was wearing was fitting like he’d hoped), when he saw Lofty’s battered shoes he let out a small gasp:

 

“Oh Heavens, Lofty I’m so sorry, I forgot to get you a pair of shoes! One moment!” Elliot that rushed himself back into the storage room, whilst he was hunting for shoes, Lofty put on the rest of his uniform and finished it off with his cap. He had to admit he looked very different to the Lofty he used to know: pearly white shirt and socks, pristine and steamed grey trousers, dark grey waist coat with black buttons and a jacket blazer with pockets on the sides and on the breast (for a handkerchief). His cap matched very well with the uniform, but he decided not to wear it with his new fancy clothes - this was the start of a new life for him, he didn’t want to bring the past with him. Of course he would still wear it when he had to accompany Dominic on outings. Elliot came back with a very stylish pair of Oxfords that when Lofty tried on, fit him like a glove. Speaking of which Elliot then also gave him a pair of white gloves he was to wear with his uniform when he was inside the mansion, Lofty looked at himself in the full body mirror in front of him and very much saw himself as a dapper footman.

 

“That’s you all finished Lofty, I’ll have someone send up another set of the uniform to your room later.”

 

“Thank you very much Elliot.”

 

Lofty left the fitting room amd entered the hallway, where he was surprised to find Dom stood waiting for him.

 

“You clean up well Lofty, I’m surprised he fitted and dressed you so quickly.”

 

“Thank you sir. Yes sir there was a set of uniform there from a previous worker that ended up fitting me well. Mr Issac Mayfield I believe sir.”

 

Lofty saw Dom freeze, unblinking, like he was transfixed by a memory that was playing out in front of him, he looked slightly pale and shaken. After a few long moments the young Lord came out of his self induced trance and spoke:

 

“Is that so? Well Lofty I must tell you, there is a rule in this manner not to speak that man’s name am I understood?”

 

“Q-quite sir.” Replied Lofty, he was taken aback by Dom’s reaction.  _Why couldn’t he say that man’s name?_

 

The colour quickly returned to Dom’s cheeks and his previous manner returned to him, “Very good, now I must show you around the house, you’ll have to get used to your surroundings quickly. Commands I have for you will take you to every nook and cranny in this building.”

 

“Very good sir.”

 

Lord Dominic toured Lofty around the manor: the living room, the hallways, the drawing room, Dominic’s private office, the kitchens and then Lofty’s living space. The room itself was nice enough, fresh linen bed sheets, a sturdy bed frame, a desk with paper and writing utensils laid out on it, the window was uncracked and crystal clear (giving a clear view of the gardens below) as well as a large wardrobe.

 

“Who am I to be sharing the room with sir?”

 

“Nobody, this is your room.”

 

“Wow… I’ve never had one before.” Muttered Lofty as he stroked the softness of the bed sheets.

 

“A room to yourself?”

 

“A proper bed, sir.”

 

Dom felt a lump in his throat, his heart was practically bleeding for the newly appointed footman, _He’s never had a bed before_ Dom thought to himself. He kept his voice steady as to not show emotion:

 

“Well you have one now, the desk over there is for your writings and documents.”

 

Lofty froze for a moment before responding, “Pardon sir?”

 

“Being a footman means you read documents for me, give your signature and write up essays and speeches for me and whatnot.”

 

Lofty looked down at the floor in shame, “Then I’m no good for the position sir.”

 

“Why ever not?”

 

“I… I can’t read or write sir.”

 

“You never learned?”

 

“It’s not like I could go to school, I missed my education so I could make money for the family. Mum and Dad had no education either, and then they…” His words trailed off, “Well, they couldn’t teach me.”

 

“Well, I’m sure a form of tutoring can be arranged for you Lofty.”

 

“Really sir? I’ll get to learn to read and write?”

 

“Yes, if you’d like to, I’ll teach you. I received one of the finest educations in the country, I’m sure I’ll be able to teach you.”

 

“Oh, sir!” Exclaimed Lofty, the urge to hug Dom with happiness was almost too much, but he managed to hold himself back from embracing his new employer, “Thank you so much, that would be so amazing.”

 

“Right then, every Sunday afternoon, we will go to the library and I’ll teach you there, is that alright?”

 

“That’s perfect sir! I can’t thank you enough.”

 

“Don’t mention it.” Replied Dom as he walked away (Lofty following behind him), he didn’t know why he was being so nice to the curly haired man; normally he’d’ve never of hired people off the streets let alone keep them on after finding out they can’t read or write (and then offer to teach them). Perhaps he was coming down with a fever he thought to himself as he entered his private office, he’d almost forgotten Lofty was still following behind him, and was startled when he turned around to shut the door.

 

“Oh, yes, Lofty, I’ll be working in my office until dinner time, when it’s five thirty, please make your way to my office to inform me. I won’t be keeping track of time whilst I work, in the meantime you’re free to go to your room.”

 

“Very good sir, I’ll let you know when it’s dinner time!” Replied Lofty and he walked away (presumably to his new living space). Dom proceeded to work the hours away at his desk, filling out paperwork, writing letters, making decisions, all very important stuff; 3 hours had passed before 5:30pm came, but sure enough Lofty was on time to tell Dominic that dinner was served. When the young lord opened the door he was Lofty standing there very cheerfully, but slightly tired looking.

 

“What’d you get up to? You look like you need to go to bed already.”

 

“Apologies sir, I was just helping out.”

 

“What were you doing?”

 

“Nothing very important sir, just stuff I thought I should do as a footman. I also made myself more familiar with the house, so I know how to take you to the dining area.”

 

Dom followed Lofty to the dining room, and was happily surprised to find Lofty did know his way to it (the route itself was a confusing mixture of hallways and a flight of stairs). He sat down in his usual chair in the dining room and began to eat the food that was already set out, Lofty stood at the other end of the room with his back facing Dom (since he didn’t want to make the Lord uncomfortable by staring), Dom eventually noticed this:

 

“Lofty, you can go leave for your own dinner now, in the kitchens, you don’t need my permission to eat.”

 

“I’d rather have your permission to leave though sir, if that’s alright.” Replied Lofty, he was already taking his new job very seriously.

 

“Alright Lofty,” Dom chuckled, “You have my permission to leave for your dinner.”

 

“Thank you sir, I’ll be in the kitchens.”

 

Dom, for the first time in a long while, was eagre to eat his food, but he felt like he was lacking company (again, another first for him). He tried to drive the curly haired footman out of his head as he ate his exquisite meal of roast pork with potatoes and vegetable, served with an expensive and tasteful wine. He quickly noticed how spotless the silverware looked:

 

“You, servant, come here.” He commanded. The worker he was talking to gulped with nerves before making his way over.

 

“Y-y-yes my Lord?”

 

“Who cleaned the silverware, give them my thanks and compliments.”

 

“It w-was Lofty, my Lord.”

 

“I beg your pardon?”

 

“He’s been scrubbing the pots and pans till they too were gleaming, then he got to work polishing all the silverware. By himself, my Lord.”

 

 

“Why’d he go through the bother?”

 

“Not sure m-my Lord, maybe he had nothing else to do?”

 

“He said he’d been trying to familiarise himself with the manor.”

 

“He did sir, he told me he re-toured the manor for half an hour, and because he was certain he’d remember his way, he came down to the kitchens to do more work.”

 

“Very good… Very, very good.” Muttered Dom to himself, he then turned and spoke to the employee again, “Go tell Lofty he’s earned himself another reading and writing session for Monday at midday. The work he did was not a task he needed to fulfill, but he did it anyway, I’m impressed. And tell him his pay arrives at the end of every month.”

 

“Right away my lord.” And the employee was quick to make himself scarce. When Lofty heard of his reward he was absolutely beaming, he felt proud of himself and went to bed that night raditing glee. He openly looked forward to the beginning of his education, and Dom secretly looked forward to teaching him. The next day was Sunday, and the first day of Lofty’s long overdue education, first thing to learn: the alphabet. Lofty had brought pen and paper with him to the library and so had Dom. The young Lord gave specific instructions to all other workers to not enter the library during the lesson, he wanted to teach Lofty without interruptions. To make a start, Dom wrote out all letters of the alphabet and made Lofty copy them underneath as well as sound out the letter as he wrote them. When he eventually finished copying, he looked at his work with pride, Dom was surprised to find Lofty was surprisingly confident with holding the pen and not shaking.

 

“If you’ve never written, how do you hold your pen so well?”

 

“I used to draw, sir.”

 

“Ah, very good, let’s just get on with the lesson.”

 

A similar thing happened on the Monday, Dom went over the alphabet again and Lofty copied and sounded out each letter as he wrote them. By the end of his second lesson Lofty would recite the entire alphabet forwards and backwards perfectly, Dom was very impressed with his speedy progress.

 

“You’ve done very well Lofty, that’ll be all for today, your next lesson will be on Sunday.”

 

“Very good sir, thank you sir, I can’t thank you enough.”

 

“No problem at all.”

 

For the rest of the month, Dom and Lofty worked well together: during the day Lofty would accompany the Lord on outings and business meetings and with his free time Lofty would sit at his desk and practice his reading. Dom had lent him a copy of poetry, Lofty was still on the first poem (since he didn’t know what sounds the letters made when joined together) but there were a few words he was able to decipher for himself, which made him very happy. Every other Sunday Lofty would take this book of poetry to his lessons with Dom and the pair of them would read it together, or Dom would read to him.

 

When the end of the month arrived, so did Lofty’s paycheck, he received the envelope of coins gratefully and kept them locked away safe in his room. The next day however, Dom entered his office to find the same envelope on his desk, next to it was a note that read: “for hat”, it was obviously from Lofty. When he opened the envelope, three Crown pieces fell into his hand, he would give the money back later but Dom couldn’t help but smile.There was something about Lofty that piqued Dom’s interest, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but he looked forward to figuring out what it was.


	3. Ball rooms and Doctors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an incidemt at a Ball, Lofty needs time off, but his return to the manor is less than positive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K so im super tired and I tried my best for angst

“Lofty, how about attending a party tomorrow evening?”

“Pardon, sir?”

It’d been two months since Lofty had begun working for Lord Dominic, and things were going well: Lofty was working hard and his literacy had improved massively, Dom was always on time for meetings and on track for everyday of the week (putting him in a very good mood). Dom and Lofty were sat in their usual spot in the massive library, Dom had just finished reciting a piece of love poetry from Lofty’s book whilst Lofty was writing basic sentences. He wrote very, very slowly (as to not make mistakes), which held up Dom’s lessons; but the Lord didn’t mind - it made him happy to see Lofty trying to hard in his studies.

 

“I need to attend a party tomorrow, for work and whatnot, there’ll be music, food and dancing. It’ll be good fun, and I need my footman there alongside me.”

 

“Oh, well sir I’m flattered, I’d love to accompany you. Is my uniform good enough for the party? Not being rude sir, I was just wondering if there was a dress code workers should follow.”

 

“Good point. The invitation said black suit and tie for the men, I’ll speak to the host and see if it’s required for you to dress as such.”

 

“Much appreciated sir, thank you.”

 

After Lofty’s lesson, Dom wrote a letter asking about dress code for attending workers and had one of the house staff travel to the host’s house, within the hour, the worker came back with the host’s response: Lofty was to wear his uniform, but it had to be in black (as to stick to the colour code). Dom sent orders to Elliot to begin making Lofty another uniform in the desired colours and the seams man got to work immediately. Lofty went about his normal every duties as a footman and Dom worked away in his office, every other hour or so, Lofty would come to the office to see if Dom was okay or if he needed anything - as much as Lofty was only a footman, these regular check-ins made Dom feel cared for (a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time). It was time for dinner when Elliot informed Lord Dominic that Lofty’s suit was complete (keep in mind that any talented seams man like Elliot can create an outfit in record time), Dom tired to hide his eagerness to see Lofty in a form fitting black suit, but kept this to himself, such things weren’t to be spoken of. Soon enough it was the next day, and the day of the party, Dom never really held dances or parties (he didn’t enjoy the stress of organising it all), but he did love the process of dressing up for them: wearing his finest clothes, bringing his best wine as to show off to other attendees, dance with the prettiest women in the room (even if he didn’t think they were all that attractive) and have all the men gawk at him with jealousy. Lofty was excited too: he’d never went to a fancy party before, at most there was the annual christmas party held in the slum streets, but those were nowhere near as grandeur as to that of a ballroom in the heart of a manor house. Elliot didn’t want him to try on his new suit until he needed to, he wanted it to be a complete surprise for Lofty, which only made Lofty more and more excited. Lofty couldn’t help but talk about it to the cooks as he scrubbed the pans in the kitchen, and as much as there other staff wanted to hate Lofty for his special treatment, they couldn’t - he was just too sweet! Just as Lofty finished cleaning the last pan, a worker came to collect him:

 

“Lofty, it’s time to get you ready for that dance tonight!”

 

“Great!” Replied Lofty excitedly, he jumped out of his chair and knocked over all the pots and pans he’d just cleaned in the process, he made a face of embarrassment as he picked them all up again. When he’d sorted out the mess he’d created, he left the kitchens and headed straight to Elliot’s room, he knocked politely before entering and Elliot excitedly ushered him inside.

 

“Oh my dear boy, this suit is divine! Well, it’s the same design as the uniform you’re wearing right now, but the black colour is so nice, you’ll love it as soon as you put it on!” As Lofty began to undress, Elliot began flapping about around him, “Now, you’ve obviously been working down in the kitchens, your shirt is covered in marks! I’ll grab you a new clean shirt to wear for tonight, your shoes are fine - you’ve been keeping very good care of them!”

 

“I polish them once a week before I go to bed. Although, sometimes I forget to, if I’m too tired.”

 

“Well they’re as good as the day you got them. Right, here’s the shirt, a black tie and a pocket handkerchief. I’ll assume you have socks and gloves back at your room.”

 

“Yep!”

 

“Wonderful, let’s try this suit on then Lofty!”

 

After the newly made uniform had been tried on, and Elliot was satisfied with the fitting, Lofty headed to his bedroom and prepared for the party (he wanted to look his best for Dom’s sake). He washed and dried his hair before shaving, and dabbed a few drops of some cheap (but nice smelling) cologne he’d been able to afford from his latest paycheck. He felt dressed up, which made him feel very good, and it was almost impossible to imagine himself wearing his street clothes and battered shoes (even if he had kept his grey cap). With a little under an hour to go before needing to leave for the party, Lofty put on his new black uniform and he was absolutely beaming since it’d be the closest thing he had to a proper suit. He slipped on a fresh pair of pristinely white gloves and his look was complete. He made his way to Dom’s office to inform him it’d be time to leave, but soon remembered Dom would be in his own bedroom getting ready. He walked along the numerous winding hallways, taking in the paintings and the decor as he went, when he arrived at the Lord’s door he knocked politely.

 

“Who is it?” Asked Dom from inside his bedroom.

 

“It’s Lofty, it’ll soon be time to leave, sir.”

 

“Right, well, just come in Lofty, I need a hand with something.”

 

With hesitance, Lofty made his way inside the Lord’s room, he stood as close to the door as he possibly would and shifted uncomfortably. Dom walked into the main bedroom (coming from the attached bathroom) and chuckled at Lofty’s embarrassment. He tried not to feel overwhelmed at how well Lofty suited his new uniform.

 

“Come on now Lofty, we’re both men, nothing to be embarrassed about, right?”

 

“No, um, nothing at all sir.”

 

“Right well, I need your help with something, but I need you to promise me you’ll keep what I say next a secret.”

“Promise sir.” Replied Lofty, holding up his hands to show his fingers weren’t crossed.

 

“Right, well, the thing is… Promise you won’t laugh?”

 

“I promise sir, you can trust me.”

 

“Thank you. The thing is, I can’t put suspenders on.”

 

“What?” Asked Lofty, laughing with relief.

 

“You promised!”

 

“I know sir, I know, I’m really sorry. I just… Suspenders? I thought you were gonna tell me something really important or serious is all.”

 

“Suspenders are a serious matter. Do you know how to put them on?”

 

“Yeah, I do, Elliot showed me.”

 

“Can you, can you help me put my suspenders on? Please?”

 

“Yep!” Lofty stepped toward Dom and took the two suspender straps from his hand, “How’d you manage to wear them before?”

 

“I didn’t, I don’t wear suspenders. But this is an important event, I can’t not wear them.”

 

“Why not, people won’t be able to see them, they can’t tell.”

 

“But I can, and I’d feel utterly stupid and ridiculous.”

 

“How do you not know how to wear suspenders?”

 

“The clips never stay! The strap is always too tight or too loose and whenever I get them to stay on for the whole day, they just feel uncomfortable. Just, show me how.”

 

“Alright sir, alright.” Lofty began clipping the straps to the fronts and backs of Dom’s trousers, trying not to lose his cool at the close intimacy, “You’ve got to be careful with the clips, there’s a certain part of the southern necessity where they’re meant to clip on - otherwise they’ll come off or damage the material.”

 

“Southern necessity?”

 

“Isn’t that a fancy term for trouser sir?”

 

“Well yes, but it’s more something you’d hear from my father.”

 

“Oh… Well, anyway, once the clips are secure, you just put the straps on your shoulders.” Continued Lofty as he slipped the straps over Dom’s shoulders.

 

“These feel a bit uncomfortable - too tight.”

 

“Let me just fix that then sir.”

 

“Thank you. Lofty, why do you call me sir? I’ve always insisted you call me Dom ever since our first proper encounter.”

 

“You’re my boss, it’d feel wrong sir.”

 

“What if I gave you the command to call me Dom, you’d have to listen to me, right?”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“Well then Lofty, from here on out I demand you call me Dom; not Dominic or Lord Dominic, just Dom, alright?”

 

“Yes… Dom.”

 

“Brilliant!”

 

Lofty finished up fixing the suspenders in place, when Dom turned around to face him, Lofty still had his hands on the Lord’s waist. Neither pulled away from the intimacy, and both felt their hearts pound with nerves, Dom instinctively brought his head a little closer and Lofty copied; _What’s happening?_ Dom thought to himself, _Why don’t I want to pull away?_ Lofty wasn’t thinking the same thing however, living on the streets meant there was no chance of being found out for who he really was, so he just enjoyed the moment. They were so close, they were so _close_ that neither of them knew what to do next, just as their lips nearly touched, a knock was heard on Dom’s door, and the pair pulled apart from each other startled by the noise that’d interrupted them.

 

“Pardon my Lord, your carriage is waiting for you, you might be late!” Came a voice from the other side of the door.

 

“Yes, I’ll be there now. Thank you.” Replied Dom, once he heard the worker had walked away, he grabbed his jacket and left to go, he flung the door open but stopped at the doorway. He turned around to face Lofty, “You look good Lofty, very good suit.”

 

“Oh, Elliot made it.”

 

“Right, of course he did, it’s his job. Um, Lofty… Let’s not speak of this again - what just happened, okay?”

 

“If that’s what you’d want sir.” Replied Lofty, he looked a little sad to hear this but he decided against expressing his own opinion. Dom left the room and Lofty followed behind him, “Sir- Dom, shouldn’t I be the one leading you?”

 

“Lofty it doesn’t matter we’re only walking to the front door for Christ’s sake- Sorry, sorry I lost my temper.”

 

“That’s… quite alright Dom.”

 

“No it’s not, please accept my sincere apologies Lofty, I shouldn’t have snapped.” Dom hid his true feelings well; deep down his heart was racing, almost frightened somehow - he hadn’t felt that way since… He let his mind wander from those thoughts as he made his way down to the front door of the Manor house with Lofty. They clambered onto the carriage and they were soon on their way to the event, Lofty couldn’t help but fidget with nerves, and Dom was quick to pick this up:

 

“You alright there Lofty?”

 

“They’re gonna laugh at me… More importantly, they’re gonna laugh at you!”

 

“What?”

 

“I mean, they’re all lords with footmen with high ability and proper teaching, I can barely read a simple sentence. They’re bound to laugh… And I don’t want to make you look bad.”

  
“Lofty you’re being stupid-”

 

“No I’m not! Back in the slums I could defend myself physically, these’ll fight with words, I have no chance.”

 

“They’ll be no fighting full stop. And if _any_ of them try to imply anythings, I’ll step in.”

 

The carriage stopped, signalling to Dom and Lofty that they’d arrived at the event. Dom gave one last reassuring look to Lofty before Lofty stepped out of the carriage to let Dom out out, he opened the door and Dom stepped out onto the gravel pathway of the massive manor house in front of them, it was even bigger than Dom’s (which was saying something).

 

“Wow…” Remarked Lofty under his breath.

 

“Don’t worry Lofty, he’s just compensating for something, I however am not. Let’s just go, I think we’re late, only just though.”

 

“R-Right, okay.” Replied Lofty nervously, his legs felt like they were made of iron or lead, but he somehow managed to join Dom in walking up to the front door of the manor house. When the door was opened by one of the house workers, they were let inside, Dom’s coat was taken by the worker to be hung up in the cloakroom. Lofty straightened out his uniform as best he would in his last minute panic, he truly felt like a fish out of water and he didn’t like it; he tried to distract himself from his nerves by taking in the decor of the house, but it didn’t quite work.

 

“Dominic!” Cried a tall, handsome man, he had a strong foreign accent and his hair was pitch black, Dom seemed to recognise the man and went in for a heart handshake.

 

“Fredrik how good to see you! You manor house is amazing, although it must seem like a vacation home compared to your home back in Sweden?”

 

“Oh of course, in fact, I just came back from a business trip there.”

 

“So I heard! It went very well, yes?”

 

“It went brilliant!” Eventually, Fredrik took notice of the curly haired footman behind Dom, “And who is this man?”

 

“This is Ben Chiltern, although we all call him Lofty, I’m sure he won’t mind if you wish to do the same.”

 

“Unusual nickname Lofty, how’d that come about?” Asked Fredrik.

 

“It’s a long story sir, your home is splendid.” Complimented Lofty as he gestured to the artistically furnished hallway.

 

“Very kind of you Lofty, very kind! Now, Dominic, you must join me and everyone else in the ballroom - you’ve arrived late!”

 

“Oh yes, I apologise for that, it was my own fault I must admit.”

 

“It’d quite alright, come, you will have a wonderful time.” Fredrik led Dom to the ballroom where all the other guests were gathered, a quartet of classical instruments painted the background noise in melodies, much to Lofty’s delight: he loved the music people made back in the slums, it was always so happy (as to counteract the heavy atmosphere created by their squaller), the quartet expressed just as much happy emotion in their playing; dancers wearing big dresses or fancy suits were, in Lofty’s mind, replaced by all his street friends and neighbours - he felt slightly homesick, but Dom soon drew him from his enamourment with the music.

 

“Lofty, we’re going to see some other guests, remember to stay quiet at all times. If someone speaks to you or asks you a question, do not answer it, just look at me and I’ll answer for you, understand?”

 

“Yes Dom-”

  
“I’m so sorry, just for this evening, you’re going to have to call me Lord or Sir.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Very good, follow me.”

 

Dom walked over to a rather large group of well dressed upperclassmen, these gentlemen proceeded to look Lofty up and down before turning back to their conversation and pretending he didn’t exist. Dom tried not to show his annoyance at this and joined in the conversation:

 

“Hello chaps, what’d I miss?”

 

“Well Maurice ended up tripping over a waiter, old man Alexander is already red faced and drunk, and miss Violet Billings is looking rather ravishing.” Replied Fredrik (who was already apart of the group).

 

“I’m dreadfully sorry I’m late by the way chaps,” Apologised Dom, “I needed to finish my paperwork, but it took much longer than expected.”

 

“That’s quite alright, it happens to the best of us. Who’s the lad behind you then?” Asked another handsome man.

 

“New footman.” Responded Dom.

 

“Footman? What happened to the last one?” Asked another man.

 

“He was getting on my nerves, this one is quite the improvement.”

 

“Hm, very good Dominic.” The man then spoke to Lofty, “What’s your name lad?”

 

Lofty looked up from the ground, surprised that someone was talking to him, and turned to Dom for help, “His name is Lofty, Lofty Chiltern.” Replied Dom, speaking in Lofty’s place.

 

“Lofty? What type of name is that?” Replied the ‘gentleman’, letting out a cruel laugh at Lofty’s expense (all of the other men in the group besides Dom were quick to join in), “Where’d you find him Dominic?”

 

“I’d rather not say.” Stated Dom, he turned to Lofty and could see he looked visibly hurt and embarrassed (not only by the other man’s insults, but Dom’s words too), “It’s not something people need to know.”

 

“Oh go on old boy, do tell us!” Chimned in Fredrik.

 

Dom paused for a long time, he really didn’t want to have to reveal the answer (for Lofty’s sake), but peer pressure was building and he could no longer stand it, “From the streets.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“The streets, that’s where I found him. There was a kerfuffle at work and I took it out on him, offering work was the least I could to apologise-”

 

“The streets?”

 

“Yes, got a problem with that?”

 

“Yes, we have a massive ruddy problem with that!” Replied Fredrik, clearly outraged, “I don’t want your little peasant boy stinking up the evening, I doubt he’s had a bath in his life. From his messy hair to the way he stands - I should’ve known. Why employ him, have you gone mad?”

 

“Leave him be, that’s quite enough-” Dom tried to intervene.

 

“I bet he can’t read!” Commented one of the men in the group.

 

“Very good point, can you read Lofty? Do tell me, I’d be surprised if you could!” Lofty stayed silent, his eyes glued to the shiny floor, he shifted very uncomfortably, “Answer me street rat!”

 

“I’m… I’m learning to.”

 

“Wow so there might be a brain in there, very good! Well then, I’m going to write something and I want you to read it, understand?”

 

“Yes sir…”

 

Fredrik grabbed a pen and paper from the table and began to write something in his cursive writing, as he was doing this, Dom spoke: “He’s a footman not a bloody beggar for God’s sake Fredrik stop this nonsense.”

 

“Ah, ah, ah Dominic, let us have our fun.” Replied Fredrik as he finished writing the note, he showed it to the rest of the group who all sniggered and laughed devilishly, he shoved the note into Lofty’s hand and stared at him as he read it. Lofty immediately became emotional, before that point he’d been holding back, but that note sent him over the edge. Dom felt Lofty brush past his shoulder, he saw the curly headed footman rush out of the large hall and presumably to the front door to leave, he’d dropped the note at Dom’s feet as he rushed out the building.

 

“Good riddance.” Muttered Fredrik, he turned back to the group, leaving Dom out of it. Dom stood there dazed at what’d happened, when he broke out of his almost hypnotic state he grabbed the note from the floor, curious as to what had upset Lofty so much. He soon understood why. A sickening wave of guilt and anger over came Dom as he read the single word that Fredrik had written on the paper:

 

_Filth._

 

“What the hell is this?” Asked Dom and he shoved the paper into Fredrik’s chest.

 

“It’s called the truth Dominic! Aw, come on, it was funny.”

 

“It was vile. I can’t believe you!”

 

“He’s just a worker, he’s even worse than that - he’s just street scum you picked up from the street.”

 

“His name is Lofty and I am leaving.” Said Dom, storming out of the party, he was so mad for Lofty’s sake he didn’t care about his own status, but he was mad at himself too; he should’ve defended Lofty more. When he got to the entrance of the building, he couldn’t see Lofty anywhere: not by the front door, the steps, the gardens, anywhere. Panicked, he practically ran to the carriage, he’d look for Lofty that way (it’d be faster and easier too). But he didn’t have to look far, Lofty was sat in the carriage, alone and upset, he turned to look at Dom and the young Lord saw the tears in his eyes.

 

“I remembered I couldn’t go without you.”

 

“Really?” Asked Dom, he was hopeful Lofty stayed because he wanted him, but his hopes were soon let down.

 

“Yeah, you’re my employer. I’m not allowed to go without your say so, and it’s your carriage.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“You should go back to the party sir.” Offered Lofty as he wiped away the tears that’d formed in his waterline.

 

“I will do no such thing. We’re going home.” Replied Dom, getting into the carriage and sitting himself down opposite Lofty. The carriage was soon on its way and the journey was travelled in silence, Dom thought it’d stay this way till Lofty spoke again:

 

“I’d like to go home sir.”

 

“That’s what we’re doing Lofty.”

 

“I mean _home_ , back in the slum area.”

 

“You want to quit your job? Lofty I’m sorry about what happened back there but please don’t-”

 

“No I’m not quitting. Sir, I’m homesick, terribly so. Tonight only made me realise this more.”

 

“Lofty…”

 

“It wouldn’t be for long, just a few days. I miss my friends is all sir, and I just want to see how they’re doing. And… I need some time away, from you.”

 

“Me?”

 

“Sir, I understand your status is important, but after what happened back in your bedroom, I thought I at least meant something to you.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re-”

 

“Don’t act like you don’t know what was going to happen, you know full well what we were about to do, if it weren’t for the fact we were interrupted.” Dom didn’t argue with this, so Lofty continued, “Sir, you didn’t seem to care about what they were saying to me, and you didn’t make them stop or argue in my defense, I was so hurt and embarrassed and scared sir. I was more scared in that ball room surrounded by frilly dresses and suits then I was when I lived in the streets.”

 

“Lofty, listen to me-”

 

“I told you this would happen, they’d make a joke of me. And you, you promised to protect me from them and you did next to nothing! Please sir, understand I need time away from all this, just for a few days so I can get my bearings back again?”

 

Dom looked at Lofty for some time before answering, “When are you going?”

 

“Preferably tonight. I’ll use my pay check to get a bus down into the main town, I’ll live with my friends for the time away.”

 

“So soon?”

 

“Yes, sir, if that’s alright?”

 

“Is it what you need?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Then you have my permission to go. How many days?”

 

“Three, maybe four. Is that okay?”

 

“Yes that’s quite fine. Right then, I’ll lend you a suitcase for your belongings.”

 

“Don’t have many of them, and it’s just a short trip, I’ll just take a change of clothes.”

 

“Oh, right.” Replied Dom quietly, he was trying his best to hold back a sob, it felt like Lofty was saying he was leaving forever, “I’m going to miss you.” Admitted Dom, his emotions seeping through into his words.

 

“I’ll miss you too sir.”

 

When they arrived back at the manor the atmosphere was cold and empty, Lofty immediately went to his room to pack, which didn’t take long since he wouldn’t be bringing much. Dom remained by the front door, sat in a chair and drinking a strong glass of whiskey, he wanted to see Lofty off. When Lofty came to the front door to leave, Dom gave him a quick hug, and then he was gone. Dom felt utterly and entirely alone, it was like there was a gap in his heart, like there was something missing, and he knew Lofty had something to do with it - but whether or not that feeling was platonic was something he did not know the answer to. The next two days were spent with Dom aimlessly wandering around the manor, he didn’t know what to do and he didn’t want to do anything, not without Lofty beside him. Lofty on the other hand was quite enjoying  his time off, he felt slightly ill but he didn’t let it phase him; he pressumed it was just a gut feeling that hadn’t passed because of his sudden departure from the manor, and that he missed Dom. On the fourth day of his visit Lofty looked quite pale, and obviously ill, but he played this off and pretended to be completely fine. He waved everyone goodbye and gave his friends long hugs, he was happy to go back since he was missing Dom too much. As he turned to walk away from the slum area a sudden wave of dizziness and blurry vision washed over him; he stood dazed as he lost his grounding and collapsed to the floor. He felt his head make impact with the ground as the world around him began to spin quickly, the sickening feeling in his gut tripled and he felt himself struggle to keep his eyes open. All his friends rushed to his side to help him.

 

“Lofty, Lofty mate, what’s wrong? What do we do?”

 

“Call for a carriage… have it sent straight to Lord Dominic Copeland’s manor house…” Lofty was beginning to fall unconscious.

 

“Lofty stay awake, come on.” Begged one of his friends in a panicked tone.

 

“Someone go get a carriage! Someone help me carry him, if anyones gonna help ‘im it’s that Lord - he’ll have a doctor.” Commanded Loftys best friend, Alec.

 

“What’s… What’s happening?” Asked Lofty, slightly delirious due to his worsening condition. He could feel people carrying him, but apart from that nothing else seemed definite or real.

 

“You’re sick mate, but that Lord guy is gonna help you, don’t you worry.” Said Alec, trying his best to comfort Lofty and the rest of the group. They loaded Lofty onto the carriage and gave the driver the destination, they promised him someone would pay him when he arrived at the manor house and Lofty was soon on his way. But time was slipping away as Lofty’s fever doubled, and his inability to stay conscious worsened, the driver had been told to travel as fast as he could and he was living up to the request.

 

Dom, meanwhile, was still in the manor moping around, it was Friday and he felt as lonely and as bored as he did the day Lofty left (if not more so). When a worker burst through the door of his office to announce Lofty’s return, the last thing he expected was a grave look of concern smeared all over the worker’s face. He jumped out of his chair and ran to the front door of the manor, Lofty was being carried into the building by four workers (since he was now too weak to walk) and Dom felt his heart stop.

 

“What happened?” Asked Dom.

 

“We don’t know sir, this is how he was found when the carriage door was opened.”

 

“Someone contact my doctor, have Lofty brought into my bedroom and put on the bed!” Ordered Dom, his panic growing by the millisecond. “Someone pay the driver for his troubles.’

 

Lofty was carted off in the direction of the Lord’s bedchamber, he was sweating profusely and his fever was skyrocketing. The workers carrying him carefully placed him on the bed and instantly got to work on getting compresses to put on Lofty’s forehead. Dom entered the room not much longer, panic and misery outlining his every facial expression:

 

“Is the Doctor on his way?”

 

“He’s travelling over as fast as the carriage will take him.” Confirmed one of the workers. Lofty looked ghostly pale at this point, his hair was glued to his forehead with his sweat and he wasn’t waking up anymore. Around fifteen or so minutes later, the doctor arrived.

 

“Ah, Doctor Valentine, thank you so much for coming.”

 

“Where is the patient?”

 

“In my room, follow me.”

 

The doctor did as such, but when he entered the room he was surprised to see the poor state Lofty was in, “This all happened in under an hour of him being here?”

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“It takes a little over a week for his symptoms to get to this level of severity.”

 

“He’d been out of the manor for four days, he was coming back today.”

 

“He probably developed the illness over that time off, still, it’s worsened much quicker than it should have.”

 

“Please just take a look at him.”

 

The Doctor took his time examining Lofty, he didn’t want to miss anything, but with each passing moment he looked less and less confident (which worried Dom, since Doctor Valentine was one of  best in the country). He stood up from Lofty’s sickbed and made his way over to the worried Lord, a look of grave concern on his face.

 

“I… I don’t know if he’ll pull through. He’s very weak my Lord and the illness, most likely a virus from the slums, is very strong. I’ll do all I can, but I can’t promise you he’ll leave this room alive.”

 

Dom felt like dropping to the floor and sobbing, but he couldn’t look weak, he quietly thanked the Doctor and left him to get back to Lofty. For the first time in his life, Dom was truly terrified.


	4. A Love at First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lofty's recovering from his illness, but what'll Dom say after coming so close to losing his favorite footman?

The past couple of days had been spent in utter chaos and panic, Lofty was still sick, in fact, he wasn’t waking up. He was still alive and pulling through but only just, and the thought of losing him had sent Dom into tears multiple times - he couldn’t lose Lofty. For some reason the thought of losing his newfound footman scared Dom to no end, Doctor Valentine was doing all he could and then some, but nothing seemed to be having a positive affect. The days wore on, Dom remained at Lofty’s bedside, unmoving incase he woke up. Even the workers were worried for Lofty’s sake, they’d quickly grown to enjoy his company and would be devastated to see him go so soon; the cook (who Lofty had grown a good friendship with whilst he cleaned the pots and pans) made stew or broth every day and kept it warm incase Lofty woke up and needed something to eat. It was the fourth day into Lofty’s treatment, the colour in his skin had returned slightly, but his fever was still high and no amount of open windows and cold compresses was going to fix that. Dom was half asleep at the foot of the bed, he was certainly tired (he hadn’t slept properly since Lofty had arrived) but he refused to sleep, when he felt a slight movement from under the bed sheets; he looked up to see Lofty slowly stir awake, confused and tired, but awake nonetheless.

 

“Lofty, Lofty!” Exclaimed Dom, he didn’t shout incase it hurt Lofty’s ears, but it was obvious he was delirious with joy and relief, Lofty began to squirm and panic as he couldn’t figure out the unfamiliar surroundings around him, “Lofty, it’s alright, it’s me - Dom.”

 

Lofty looked right into Dom’s eyes and immediately his chest began to rise and fall with even breaths, he smiled slightly and croaked out a few words, “What happened?”

 

“You’re sick Lofty, but it’s gonna be alright, I’ll make sure you get better.”

 

“I remember looking up at the sky, and then everything went fuzzy, and then… I don’t remember.”  


“You probably passed out, we found you in a carriage at the front door.”

 

“When was that?”

 

“Four days ago… Lofty, I didn’t think you were coming back.” Admitted Dom, holding back a sob, he was so relieved to know Lofty was awake - it meant he was going to get through this alive.

 

“Me? I’m not that easy to get rid of Dom, it’ll take more than a fever to keep me away from you.” Replied Lofty, managing to smile.

 

“Ah, Mr. Chiltern, you’re awake I see, that’s certainly a relief!” Said Doctor Valentine as he entered the room, “Glad to see you’re alive, Elliot will be most relieved.”

 

“Elliot?” Asked Lofty.

 

“The whole manor had been worried sick about you, pardon the pun.” Answered Valentine, “Quite the hysteria when I informed them of your state.”

 

“Tell them I’m sorry for worrying them... “ Lofty let out a yawn as his eyes began to feel heavy and tired.

 

“Lofty, try and stay awake now-” Insisted Dom.

 

“No, no he’s quite alright, don’t worry my Lord, the fact he woke up tells us the treatment is clearly working - what he needs now is a good long rest. He’ll be physically exhausted after the battle he’s just had with that virus.”

 

“Alright, I should probably go to my office and catch up on missed work; I haven’t done any since Lofty arrived.”  


“That may be a good idea yes. I’ll go tell the staff of Lofty’s improvement.”

 

“Thank you Doctor Valentine, for everything.”  


“It’s my job, don’t mention it.”

 

When Valentine left the room, it was just Dom and Lofty in the room, Lofty hadn’t quite fallen asleep yet, so Dom spoke to him to lull him to bed, “How was your trip?”

 

“It was good, besides falling ill, it was good to see them again.”

 

“That’s good. I’m glad your back though.”

 

“Me too sir… I couldn't stay away from you.” Admitted Lofty as his eyes began to close.

 

“I’d hope not, you are my footman after all.”

 

“Not just that… Dom, I really l-” But he cut off his own sentence, he fell into a deep sleep then and there, leaving Dom on the edge of his seat as to what he was going to say. Dom stayed at the edge of Lofty’s bedside and looked at him, he couldn’t help but feel relief now he knew Lofty’s recovery was certain. Instinctively, Dom took one of Lofty’s hands and kissed it, he gently placed it back down on the bed before leaving the room.

 

A couple more days went by and soon enough Lofty’s fever dropped and he was able to sit up in bed by himself, the cook was very pleased to know Lofty would be able to eat his meals, and Doctor Valentine was very pleased to see Lofty’s recovery. There were times, during the night, when Lofty’s fever would rise and there was a fear of him relapsing but the Doctor always managed to prevent that from happening. Dom was practically Lofty’s bedside nurse; going out of his way to make sure Lofty had everything he needed and them some, and he’d grown accustomed to sleeping in an armchair beside the bed Lofty slept in, every night he would read poetry to Lofty which helped the pair of them fall into an easy sleep. Being so close to losing him made Dom realise how much he wanted to be with Lofty, and not just because he was his footman; the only other time he’d come close to loving someone was Issac, but Lofty was proving more important to him then Issac ever could have been.

 

A little under two weeks later, Doctor Valentine gave Lofty the all clear to go outside (provided he stayed in a wheelchair since he was still too weak), and Lofty was ecstatic, although the wheelchair was a bit of a hassle: every morning upon getting out of bed Lofty had to be supported down the stairs before settling back into the chair, even with support, having to get down that short flight of stairs took its toll on Lofty and he had to sit there and get his breathing back to normal. Lofty still did all his footman duties (to the best of his abilities) and practiced his literacy and reading in his now copious amount of free time. During every breakfast, lunch and dinner (when the weather would allow), Dom would push Lofty in his wheelchair outside and onto the manor gardens, they would explore the numerous pathways and routes together and stop at the gazebo to rest and talk and read poetry. Lofty didn’t always understand the meaning behind the words that Dom read from the pages, but he simply allowed the sounds to wash around him like music, and poetry grew to be his favourite thing to listen to. His favourite out of all the poems Dom had read to him had to be “Vitae Summa Brevis”, he would repeatedly ask Dom to read that specific poem to him and Dom would happily oblige to the request:

 

“They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,

Love and desire and hate;

I think they have no portion in us after

We pass the gate.

 

They are not long, the days of wine and roses:

Out of a misty dream

Our path emerges for a while, then closes

Within a dream.”

 

“I really love that poem Dom.” Commented Lofty as the Lord finished reciting it for the umpteenth time.

 

“I know that!” Replied Dom, laughing slightly, “I must say you have excellent taste, what makes you love it so much?”

 

“I’m not to sure, I just… do.”

 

“Fair enough, do you think love works that way in general? There’s no specific reason for it’s being there, but there it is anyway.”

 

“Perhaps, yes. Should we get back to the manor now Dom?”

 

“Yes I think we should, come one.”

 

“Can I wheel myself around please?”

 

“It hasn’t been that long since you’ve been allowed outside, I don’t want you pushing yourself-”

 

“I won’t Dom, I promise I won’t, and if it gets to difficult for me I promise I’ll tell you.”

 

Dom saw Lofty’s puppy dog eyes and immediately caved in, “Oh, alright, but I’m going to keep my eye on you.”

 

The duo began their journey back up to the manor, Lofty seemed to be able to handle pushing himself in the wheelchair, and he was easily speaking to Dom whilst doing so, just before they got to an incline in the terrain they stopped.

 

“I’m gonna need you to push me up that, I won’t be able to do it.”

 

“Alright then, this’ll be a challenge, but it’ll be worth it!”

 

There was a random piece of silence between the pair, both nervous for the same reasons - even if they didn’t realise how much the other cared for them, eventually Lofty broke the silence: “How about a bit of fun Dom, before you get back to your paperwork?”

 

“What type of fun is it?”

 

“Well, get me to the top of the hill and you’ll find out!” Dom did as such, and when the pair got to the top of the incline Lofty spoke again, “Now we’re going to go back down! Sit on my lap!”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“How else are you gonna go down the hill without getting muddy?”

 

“Lofty are you mad? It’s a wheelchair.”

 

“It’s an opportunity for fun! Come one Dom, just try it!”

 

“Will it be safe?”

 

“I’ll make sure you don’t get hurt, if that’s what you’re asking?”

 

“Not quite what I was trying to say, but close enough I guess. Alright then…” Agreed Dom as he sat himself onto Lofty’s lap, he was glad Lofty couldn’t see his face now he was sat on him (since it meant he wouldn’t be able to see his blushing cheeks). Lofty wrapped his arms around the Lord’s waist and laughed slightly.

 

“You ready Dom?”  


“The hill looks a lot steeper than before you know-”  But Dom’s words were cut off as Lofty gave the wheelchair a starting push, Dom let out a cry of fear as the chair rocketed down the hill, he could hear Lofty laughing with joy and adrenaline. Dom was quick to notice their speed increasing even after they’d went down the hill:

 

“Lofty, Lofty we aren’t slowing down, make it slow down!”

 

“Dom there’s no brakes on this wheelchair, the real fun is trying not to crash!”  


“Oh you are so not funny!” Exclaimed Dom as they continued to speed through the grass and back into the flowery garden, eventually, a large and unexpected rock stopped the chair and two went flying; Lofty luckily landed on the tulips, Dom definitely landed on something beautiful to look at too, but it was a lot more alive than the tulips. It took him a while to realise, but he’d landed on top of Lofty. Lofty kept his word on making sure Dom didn’t get hurt: as soon as the pair had been flung out of the chair, Lofty wrapped his arms around Dom and brought him to his chest. When they landed Dom was cushioned from the impact - luckily Lofty was unscathed too.

 

“Oh God! I’m so sorry, are you alright Lofty?”

 

Lofty laughed as he responded, “Perfect! That was brilliant, can we do it again?”

 

“I think that’s enough fun for one day.” Replied Dom, joining in on Lofty’s intense laughter. Still lying on top of Lofty, Dom buried his head into Lofty, still laughing. Lofty hugged his arms around Dom, allowing the Lord to bury his head even more into Lofty’s warm chest, the pair stayed like that for a long while, unashamedly holding each other in the middle of the flower bed. Dom looked up from lying on Lofty’s chest and took in the sight of his footman surrounded by dozens of bright canary yellow tulips:

 

“You suit yellow.” Commented Dom, laughing slightly.

 

“Thanks.” Replied Lofty, pleased with the compliment.

 

Dom instinctively cupped Lofty’s face in his hand, rubbing the footman’s cheek with his thumb, Lofty’s eyes sparkled at the intimacy and responded to Dom’s touch by placing his hands on the Lord’s waist. The pair felt their hearts pounding, their pupils were dilated entirely and Lofty gave a nervous gulp - nervous but hopeful for the outcome he’d waited for for so long.

 

“Lofty, I…” Began Dom but his words trailed off.

 

“Yes, my Lord?”

 

“I don’t understand this feeling.”

 

“What feeling?”

 

“Like I can’t breathe. My chest goes tight and my heart swells, do you know what that is? Because I really don’t, it’s almost scary.”

 

“I think I do.” Replied Lofty softly.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Love, Dom. I think- I hope that you’re as in love with me as I am with you.”

 

“How do you know?”

 

“I don’t.”

 

“Should we… Can we find out?”

 

Dom and Lofty looked at each other a little while longer, both unsure of who should make the first move, eventually Dom brought his face closer to Lofty’s. Lofty looked at Dom with pure hope in his eyes, he’d only realised it whilst he was away, but he had feelings for Dom and the last thing he wanted to do was destroy what he had with the young Lord because of it; but this was his golden chance. Slowly and nervously, but without hesitation, Dom went in and brought his lips to Lofty’s, and Lofty kissed back. As the summer sun washed them in a glow and warmth, feelings of warmth spread throughout their hearts like wildfires, neither had fallen for someone so much before; it was passionate and everything Dom and Lofty wanted. It didn’t seem to end, but the need to breathe separated to two whilst they caught their breaths back, Dom (still on top of Lofty) rested his forehead against Lofty’s and waited for a response.

 

“Thank God for that.” Lofty sighed with relief, smiling immensely.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well if I told you I liked you before now, I worried you might sack me and I’d lose what I had with you.”

 

“As if I would ever fire you.”

 

“Dom… Does this mean?”

 

“That I’m in love with you entirely? Most definitely.”

 

“Are you okay with that?”

 

“Completely, if you are, that is.”

 

“Hearing you say you love me is the best thing to happen in my life, of course I’m alright with it.” The two briefly kissed again, expressing their joy of knowing how the other felt for them through the intimate act, “So… What does that make us now? I don’t see the rest of the world accepting us.”

 

“The rest of the world doesn’t have to know, do they?” Asked Dom.

 

“No, no they don’t.” Replied Lofty, smiling as he looked into Dom’s eyes, however his face soon made an expression of discomfort.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“I don’t meant to be rude Dom, but I can’t really breathe with you sat on me.”

 

“Oh God I’m sorry!” Chuckled Dom and he took himself off Lofty and laid himself down beside the footman, in the flower bed, taking Lofty’s hand in his own. They lay surrounded by the tulips, forgetting that Dom needed to head back so he could catch up on his paperwork. But eventually his work called to him and they went back to the manor house. When Dom entered his office he did a small dance of overwhelming joy, what happened back at the gardens seemed almost like it was a dream, but he knew it was very much real - that it was very much dangerous, but he didn’t care. As he sat himself in his office chair he cast his mind back to the recent memory if him and Lofty lying there in the flowers, in the soft and easy silence, he recalled what they had said to each other before heading back to the house:

 

“Lofty, how long have you had feelings for me before this moment?”

 

Lofty thought long and hard before responding, “I only realised it when I left, but I’ve probably loved you from the moment you bought me my cap back.” Dom chuckled at this, “What?” Asked Lofty, “Does is sound stupid?”

 

“No, not at all!” Replied Dom, squeezing Lofty’s hand as he did, “I didn’t realise my feelings for you till you left. I’ve most likely loved you since the day I bought you your cap back - I’m never that nice, not even to friends!”

 

“I guess, I guess you would say it was love at first sight?” Asked Lofty.

 

“Even if we were both unaware, yes, I guess it was.”


	5. The Calm Before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short and I'm really sorry about that, I focused a lot on the Lofty One off fic I just released called "Who am I?" (self advertisement im terrible haha).
> 
> It's short but i wanted a lil fluff before shit hits the fan
> 
> THIS CHAPTER IS 2 MONTHS AFTER LOFTY'S RECOVERY

Lord Dominic smiled as he worked away in his office, the time was 5:20 pm, all he had to do was wait ten more minutes for Lofty to come and call him down for dinner. But time seemed to be going in slow motion as he sat the impatiently waiting for his footman to arrive. He tried not to focus on the tick-tocks sounding from the clock on the wall but did so anyway, he tried not to notice his own heart racing but did so anyway. He straightened out his shirt sleeves and smoothed out his jacket, he wanted to look nice. After five of the ten minutes had passed a knock could be heard from the other side of the door.

 

“Who is it?” Asked Dom, getting out his desk chair to sit in on of the armchairs near the fireplace.

 

“It’s Lofty.” Replied the footman from the hallway outside the office.

 

“Come in!” Said Dom eagerly, his heart racing even more. Lofty entered the room and smiled as soon as he saw his employer (who he also happened to be madly in love with). “How come you’re early?” Asked Dom, normally Lofty was always on time, never late and never early.

 

“Well, I hope you don’t see me as rude for doing so, but it was because I wanted to see you.”

 

“Not rude at all, I was waiting for you to show up-” But Dom’s words where cut off with a gentle kiss from Lofty, the footman had placed one hand on the small of Dom’s back and the other on his side; Dom was quick to join in on the kiss and soon the pair were immersed in their own love as they stood by the fireside. When they parted from the kiss they smiled at each other for a long while, Dom had his hand cupping Lofty’s cheek, it was like something out of a romance novel for the pair.

 

“I was hoping you’d do that.” Smiled Dom.

 

“I was hoping you’d be okay with it.” Replied Lofty, smiling brightly, his heart swelled at the sight of Dom.

 

“Where do we go from here?” Asked Dom.

 

“Well I came here five minutes early, so we can’t do all that much-”   
  


“I mean with our relationship.” 

 

“Oh, well, I assume this is the part where I court you to the point you fall madly in love with me.”

 

“Very confident are you Lofty?”   
  


“Very much so, no doubt I’ll be able to have you fall for me as much as I’ve fallen for you.” Replied Lofty, giving Dom a kiss on the forehead, “Now I must insist, as your footman, that you come down for dinner, Cook’s outdone himself tonight.”

 

“Well I’d be most grateful if you joined me for dinner.”

 

“If I sit and eat at the same table as you people are bound to discover us! Are you going mad?”

  
“You have a point.”   
  


There was a brief silence between the two before Lofty broke it: “That doesn’t mean you can’t visit me in the night whilst everyone else sleeps? Or I could visit you, since no one else sleeps on your floor of the manor.”

 

“Lofty you’re a genius!” Cried Dom as he hugged Lofty tightly, “That’s perfect, we can do that, as often as we please! No one will find us out.”

  
“We’ll take it slow though, I’m yet to make you fall hopelessly in love with me.”   
  


“You’ve already gone and done that though.” Replied Dom.

 

“Come on Dom, you need to eat!” Replied Lofty, blushing slightly at Dom’s words.

 

Upon sitting down at the dining table, Dom wished Lofty could sit next to him, it’d be nice to have company for once. He tried to distract himself with the smell of the cook’s gorgeous food: roasted chicken, fresh vegetables, beef gravy and potatoes; it was a meal fit for a king and he relished in its deliciousness, he sat there quite lonely till Lofty came back into the dining room with a telegram.

 

“Dom, it’s a telegram, from a Mr. Billings.”

 

“Billings? I don’t believe I’ve heard the name before.” Stated Dom and he took the telegram from Lofty’s hand, his eyes widened as he read the words on the paper, “Ah, so that’s who he is.”   
  


“Who is who?” Asked Lofty, curious.

 

“If I recall correctly there was a Miss Violet Billings at Fredrik’s party… This telegram is from her father, asking for my attendance to a dinner party he’s holding tomorrow evening. It also says Miss Billings is most hopeful I accept the invitation.”   
  


“Do you have to go?”

 

“I may be able to strike up a business deal with Mr Billings. From what I remember, if my memory serves me well, Billings is a very rich company with  _ very _ good connections. If I get a deal with him my own company will run in its own! Which also means more time to spend with my footman.”

 

“Sounds like a good idea that you attend the dinner then!”  
  


“Is does doesn’t it? Lofty, take a message back to the Billing household, tell him I’d be most grateful to attend, and that I look forward to seeing Miss Billing again.”   
  


“Right away.” Replied Lofty, he turned to walk away, when he realised what Dom had said, “You look forward to the daughter’s company?”

 

“Oh, Lofty, please don’t be upset. You know I don’t mean it, it’s purely for business, there’ll be no courting going on - that’s your job.”

 

“Thank you.” Replied Lofty, he smiled as he walked away to deliver the message, it was early in their relationship but he felt he could trust Dom.

 

The rest of the day was spent with Dom returning to his office to work, Fredrik had tried writing to him, but he just burned the letters in his fireplace upon their arrival. When Lofty came back he looked refreshed, he hadn’t returned to the manor till quite late, and even after he stepped out the carriage he sat at the front of the manor on one of the stone pillars at the entrance, and allowed the cold night hair to swirl around him. He took in deep breaths as he took in the twilight sky, the air in the country was certainly cleaner than in the city. He eventually went back into the manor and back to Dom’s office to check on him. When he arrived at the office’s front door he knocked politely, waiting for Dom’s voice to respond - but he didn’t get one. He knocked on the door again and the same thing happened, he then voiced his entrance into the unlocked office.

  
“Dom, I’m coming in now.” 

 

Upon entrance relief washed over him as he saw Dom asleep in his office chair, his head rested on top of his paperwork that was on the desk. Lofty chuckled as he made his way over to Dom, he tried to wake him gently but the tired Lord wasn’t moving an inch.

 

“I think it’s time to go to bed now sir.” Chuckled Lofty as he picked Dom up into his arms and began to take him to his bedroom, Dom was surprisingly light to carry and Lofty managed to hold him with ease. The trip to Dom’s bedroom was a short one, Lofty quickly navigated the hallways and corridors and soon enough had arrived at the Lord’s bedroom door (Dom still sound asleep in his arms). With slight difficulty, since he was carrying Dom, Lofty opened the door to the room and walked over to the bed when he laid Dom down.

 

“Sorry for doing this, but you can’t sleep in all your clothes.” Apologised to the still sleeping Dom. He slipped off his shoes and socks and waist jacket, after removing his cufflinks and suspenders Lofty got to work taking off Dom’s shirt, undershirt and trousers; he then neatly put all these clothes back into Dom’s wardrobe (since they were still clean and wearable).

 

“Need to put your pajamas on now sir.” Said Lofty to the soundly asleep Dominic as he took a set of pajamas out of the wardrobe. Lofty was quick to discover having to redress someone who’s asleep is far more difficult than having to undress them. As he struggled with the pajama top, Dom began to talk in his sleep:

 

“No, stop it.” He protested, it wasn’t a dream, more like he was now only half asleep; half aware of his surroundings and able to react to them but not awake.

 

“Dom?”

 

No response.

 

“He must be sleep talking.” Lofty muttered to himself, “Just, one moment Dom, your pajamas are being quite difficult.”

 

“Stop it!” Said Dom again, louder than before.

 

“Dom I can’t I need you make sure you don’t catch a chill in the night, just let me-”

 

“I said stop it, get your hands off me! I’m already courting Lofty and I really like him! Get off!”

 

Lofty stopped halfway through putting one of Dom’s arms into the pajama shirt, he began smiling from ear to ear, “Well done Lord Copeland, you just stole the rest of my heart.”


	6. In The Name of Love

 

The atmosphere was light and airy within the Billings’ dining hall: a scrumptious meal and plenty of wine had sent the whole family (as well as Lord Copeland) into a drunken stupor. Dom wasn’t as far gone as most, neither was the stunning Violet Billings (her pale skin only tinged a pale pink from the drink), but the man of the household Mr Alexander Billings was red nosed and cheery. As the scullery maids cleared the table of its eaten contents and empty silver trays the family and it’s guest chatted merrily:

 

“It was quite a pleasant trip I must say.” Finished Mr Billings; he’d been talking about the family’s most recent visit to North Yorkshire and it’s stunning scenic walks.

 

“Two weeks out of the office I must say I’m quite jealous.” Smiled Dom, talking another sip of wine.

 

“Violet here looked like a love deprived puppy the whole while we were away!” Exclaimed the wife.

 

“Mummy! Don’t embarrass me infront of our guest.”

 

“It’s true you did.” Agreed her father.

 

“Oh, Daddy really, you’re no help at all.” Replied Violet in a grumpy and fed up tone, Dom was quick to notice her face had gone bright red with embarrassment.

 

“Darling it’s fine, Lord Copeland here is a bright man and besides, you just haven’t met the right man yet.” Comforted Mr Billings.

 

“Undoubtedly you will someday, you’re a stunning young woman, if you don't mind me saying so sir.” Commented Dom, he flashed a dazzling smile at Violet who smiled happily in return.

 

“No that’s quite alright Lord Copeland, you’re very correct!” Agreed Mr Billings

 

“Oh I must leave or all this complimenting me will have me blushing brighter than a tomato! Mummy will you join me in the drawing room?”

 

“Oh alright, Lord Copeland I hope you don’t mind our leaving?”

 

“It’s completely fine, I best be heading off now anyway, thank you very much for the meal it was absolutely splendid-”

 

“Just a minute there chap, whilst the women discuss their new dresses and whatnot, why don’t we talk for a few more minutes?”

 

“Yes of course sir.” Replied Dom as he made himself more comfortable in his seat again. The girls promptly left for the men to chat, Mr Billings stood at the fireplace and as best as a drunk man could, thought long and hard before speaking again.

 

“You’re a man of business are you not?”

 

“I am indeed, cloth and cotton production mainly, although I do have my fingers stuck a couple of other pies.”

 

“Very good. Is it a source of good income?”   
  


“Very good.”

 

“And excuse me if this sounds abrupt, but are you perhaps already courting someone?”

 

Dom wanted to say yes, but thought wisely against it, “I’m not no, I consider myself married to my work.”   
  


“Good answer, but if the right woman was to come along and sweep you off your feet - perhaps if my Violet was that person…”

 

“Pardon sir?”

 

“I know it’s upfront, but my daughter has been making eyes at you the whole evening, she’s definitely interested in you and based off your compliment you seemed just as so.”

 

“I was only trying to-”

 

“So if you would see her more, visit, go on walks and the like, I’m sure a confident and strong lifelong business deal would be struck between us.”

 

“Sir, are you trying to?” But Dom’s words trailed off, he didn’t want to finish the sentence.

 

“All I’m saying is that a happy wife is a happy life. And if my Violet was your wife you’d have a  _ very _ profitable and happy life indeed. If she wasn’t to be your wife than I feel many other businessmen would lose their contact with you.”

 

“Mr Billings what you’re saying is blackmail.”   
  


“What I’m saying is the  _ truth _ , and if you take me up on my offer it’s a win for us all. So lad, I expect to be seeing you more often from now on, sound good?”

 

Dom shifted uncomfortably, this was the last thing he wanted, “Sir I…” He began, but he soon felt Mr Billings’ tight grip on his shoulder, “I would love to see your daughter again.”

 

“Splendid!”

 

Dom got into his carriage feeling sick to his stomach; he didn’t know if it was the food or the drink or the deal he’d just struck with the father (he had a strong gut feeling it was the latter). Upon arriving at the manor he called home, Lofty was already stood outside awaiting his arrival with zest, he chuckled slightly as he saw Dom stumble out of the carriage and made his way over to bring him back into the house. But rather than continue their secret relationship charade, the drunken Dominic (now the wine had intoxicated him entirely) had other ideas; he went into kiss Lofty right there in front of the carriage driver but Lofty luckily managed to play it off.

 

“My Lord you’ve had too much to drink!”

 

“But not enough of you.” 

 

“Alright save it for when you’re sober my Lord…” Said Lofty as he dragged Dom back into the manner, he had to practically carry Dom to his bed room (which was a struggle due to the flight of stairs) but he managed to get the job done on his own. After opening the bedroom door and flopping Dominic down onto the bed he got to work on taking off his dinner party clothes and replacing them with pajamas; the now semi-familiar routine was much easier to perform than the last time he’d tried and in no time at all Dom was dressed ready to sleep. But again, Dom had other ideas.

 

“Dom, Dom listen to me, you’re drunk, do you really want our first together to be a drunken memory?”

 

“No…”

 

“Then save if for when you haven’t had one to many to drink, alright?”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Good, now, will you go to bed?”   
  


“Only if you lie next to me.”

 

“What happens when someone walks in tomorrow morning.”   
  


“Lock to the door now, no one will be able to come in if it’s locked.”

 

“Fair point, okay.” Replied Lofty as he went to go lock the bedroom door. He removed his blazer and waist jacket, undid his shirt’s two top buttons and the buttons on his cuffs. He slid off his shoes and socks and ran his fingers through his hair - they certainly weren’t pajamas but they’d have to do. He clambered onto the bed where Dominic lay already half asleep, he lay himself down behind the Lord, to which Dom curled into him, and the two promptly fell asleep peacefully like that and slept soundly together for the rest of the night.

 

When Dom woke the next morning he prayed the hangover and what Mr Billings had asked of him weren’t real. But they were.

 

Lofty wasn’t there when he’s woken up, but the impression in the bed showing where Lofty had slept told Dom he hadn’t been alone when he got home - which made him smile. Not long after sitting up properly in bed (his head throbbing from the previous night's drink) he checked the time from the clock on the wall and he was surprised to see it was almost mid-day; Lofty came into the room with a food tray in his hands.

 

“Glad to see you’re awake Dom.” He smiled as he sat the try down on Dom’s lap. The comforting smell of hot food hit Dom’s nostrils and he sight in delight as began to eat.

 

“Lofty you’re a godsend in more ways than one, did cook have this prepared?”   
  


“No I woke up early to ask him to make you something.”

 

“Man of my heart.” Chuckled Dom as he continued eating, the pain in his head began to ease as the knot of unease in his stomach began to unloosen.

 

“Oh, there’s another letter for you.” Said Lofty as he picked up a small white envelope from the tray and handed it to Dom. The young Lord wiped his hands clean of grease before taking it from Lofty’s hand; when he opened it and read its contents he felt ill with guilt again.

 

_ “My dear Lord Copeland, _

_                                      I must say your company last night was much enjoyed and appreciated. I’d very much love it if we were to meet again, forgive me of my upfront nature, but my heart controls me more than my mind does. If you accept this invitation please do not respond by hand - instead meet me at home tonight. _

 

_ Your hopeful lady,  _

_                            Violet Billings” _

 

“Everything alright Dom?” Asked Lofty, he didn’t try to read the note, but he was certainly curious.

 

It took Dom a while to respond to Lofty’s question as the letter’s words sunk in on their severity and meaning, “Oh, yes, Lofty everything’s quite alright.” He lied, “Mr Billings is interested in business, I’ll be taking him up on the offer.”

 

“Oh how brilliant, congratulations I couldn’t be happier for you!” Exclaimed Lofty, glowing with pride at the man he loved in front of him. “I don’t have much money so I can’t give you a gift of congratulations I’m afraid…”

 

“A kiss would be a much wanted gift.” Stated Dom boldly, guilt punched him as he said those words given what he was about to do behind Lofty’s back.

 

Lofty complied with Dom’s request and gave him a loving kiss, it soon grew more intense and despite Dom’s hangover throbbing in his head he didn’t care, Lofty and the moment they were sharing had swallowed him all and it was all he would think of in the moment. As things grew more passionate they were disturbed by a knock at the door, they both exhaled in disappointment as Lofty got off the bed and straightened his uniform.

 

“Who is it?”

 

“It’s Elliot my dear boy.”

 

“Elliot? Oh, come on in then.”

 

The clothes maker did just that, cheerfully making his way inside of the bedroom, “The maid that normally collects your clothes has taken ill, it’s now my job for the time being, may I take away your dirty clothing my Lord?”

 

“Yes it’s in the basket over there, thank you Elliot.”   
  


“No problem at all sir.”

 

Elliot then promptly left, the two sighed in relief at not being caught, “Always something to cut us short when it gets to the best part…” Muttered Lofty.

 

“You’re not wrong there. It’s already midday I should get dressed to do some paper work before I go out again tonight.”

 

“Out again? You’re popular.”

 

“Unfortunately so, yes, just a small gathering of businessmen. A meeting that Mr Billings mentioned in the letter. When I leave for this meeting you’re free to do as you like.” Dom hated lying to Lofty but the last thing he wanted to do was worry him.   
  


“Thank you, I’ll probably just work on my writing.”

 

“You did that an awful lot when you were recovering from that illness.”

 

“Yeah, so now I’m pretty good at spelling words. I’m going to try some poetry tonight.”

 

“Sounds good, please let me read it when you’re finished with it?”

 

“If you’d like to do that, of course.”   
  


“I’d love to.”

 

The rest of the day was spent with Dom in his office whilst Lofty worked away scrubbing the pans in the kitchen before he clocked off work early, he felt happy knowing Dom was going outside more often but an unshakable feeling of uncertainty had taken ahold of him, and he felt so guilty because of it - there was no reason to distrust Dom, was there? No, he told himself over and over again, Dom would never hide something from him if it was important. Dom worked away in his office to distract himself, his own guilt was eating away at him too, he didn’t want to see Violet again but after the threat her father had made he was in no position to give up his business - nor was he willing to. After dinner he called for a cab to take him to the Billings House, and Lofty saw him off at the door.

 

“Have a good evening Dom.”

 

“Thanks Lofty, Violet’s a nice enough girl, I suppose one more meeting should-” Said Dom as he threw his coat over himself, he wasn’t thinking in the heat of the moment but it was much too late to take it all back.

 

“I thought you were going to a business meeting?”

 

“I, um, I am, it’s just it’s at the Billings house?” 

 

“Dom tell me the truth.”

 

Dom stared at Lofty for a long, long while before responding, “Billings told me he’d support my business if I courted his daughter for a bit, Lofty it’s nothing serious, the girl means nothing to me-”

 

“So you lie about a business meeting to me and now you intend to lie to Miss Billings?”   
  


“It’s not like that Lofty…”

 

“Yes, yes it is it’s exactly like that. What are you going to do when you go so far into your fake courting she falls in love with you and wants to get married? What then? What about me Dom?”

 

“I am thinking about you Lofty, constantly.”

 

“Please, just don’t hurt anyone.”

 

“You know I can’t promise that.”

 

“Don’t hurt Miss Billings then.”

 

“I can’t promise that either.”

 

“Don’t go…” Pleaded Lofty, hope that Dom would stay lining his eyes.

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Then you must love your job more than you ever could love me.”

 

“You can’t say that.”

 

“You’d stay if what I said wasn’t the truth… I’m going to my bedroom, have a pleasant evening with Violet.”

 

“Lofty, please!” 

 

But Lofty had already walked away, leaving Dom at the door, what Dom couldn’t see was the tears forming in Lofty’s eyes as he walked away. But tears were forming in Dom’s eyes too, what Lofty had said hurt, but that didn’t stop him from going; as the door slammed behind Dom Lofty felt his heart fall to his stomach, the sound of the carriage pulling away from the manor would be heard from where Lofty was stood. The journey over to the Billing household was solemn for Dom, it’d become the last place he wanted to be on the planet and he was very much tempted to turn around and go back to Lofty if it weren’t for the threat Mr Billing had held against him; Lofty sat in his bedroom teary eyed and hurt, he simply couldn’t understand Dom’s actions (especially the idea of hurting a young girl and her emotions in the name of business). When Dom eventually arrived at the dreaded household, Violet was quick to greet him.

 

“Dominic!” She cried as she rushed over to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek as they greeted, “I hope you don’t see me as too bold?”

 

“No… Not at all, it’s good to see you again so soon. Is your father aware I’m here?”

 

“Yes and he’s very happy, you seemed to get along with him very well last night.”

 

“Yes, we did have a conversation or two.”

 

“Shall we walk the gardens?”

 

“Won’t your parents find it rude of me to take you to such a place alone.”   
  


“No of course not they see you very much as a respectable gentleman.”

 

Dom begrudgingly offered his arm to Violet, he disguised his true emotions with a kind smile whilst Violet happily accepted his offer. He tried to enjoy the company but he soon grew to realise Violet was just like every other girl he’d come across: nice enough, it was apparent why others found her attractive, but her personality was bland and generic (wanting to impress, she agreed to every little thing Dominic would say). Whilst Dom wished away the time and unwillingly agreed to meet her again (the worry of losing everything in his business pushing him to), Lofty sat in his bedroom sad and alone. He’d spent the evening writing and sketching and doing everything he could imagine to distract himself from the heartache he felt inside. But as much as he tried to do that, his subconscious was hooked on Dom: as he sketched the curvatures of the human features, the lines caught every detail of Dominic’s eyes and face. Within an hour he’d drawn the young Lord in full detail; suit and tie and his hands shoved in his pockets as his lead grey eyes stared intently at Lofty. The footman had to admit it was one of the best of his works, if only it wasn’t so painful to look at… As he finished the drawing the gentle rap of Dom’s knuckles against his bedroom door could he heard.

 

“It’s Dom.” Stated the Lord.

 

“I’m aware of that.” Said Lofty from his desk chair.

 

“Can I come in.”

 

“You’re my employer you can do what you like. Not like you don’t do that anyway.”

 

Dom promptly made his way inside as he responded to Lofty’s words, “Lofty, love, I didn’t go because I wanted to.”

 

“You went for the sake of your business.”

 

“I went for the sake of us!”

 

Lofty pulled a face of confusion, and paused as he started confusedly at Dom, “What?”

 

“If I can make a deal with Billings my business will be able to run itself, with that constant supply of money coming in without me wasting away in that bloody office, I can be with you.”

 

“Dom…”

 

“There’s a small village in Yorkshire called Richmond, there’s the perfect little cottage there: it’s got flowers and trees on the front of it and a large garden behind. If go there, we could stay there, together with no worries of being discovered.”

 

Lofty stood up from his small wooden desk at the prospect of Dom’s words, “Do you mean it? You really mean it?”

 

“More than anything I've said in my life.”

 

Lofty was quick to embrace Dom tightly and warmly, he gave him a kiss on the cheek before Dom spoke again.

 

“But in order for the deal to go forward I have to continue to see Violet.”

 

“Promise me we’ll have our cottage?”

 

“I promise.”

 

“Then I trust you. I feel like I should apologise though, it hasn’t even been a year since I came to your employment yet here I am wanting to run away with you.”

 

“I had never felt so certain about a man I love as much as I am about you Lofty, I cannot wait for the day we leave this manor for a little cottage in the middle of nowhere.”

 

“I love you Dominic.”

 

“And I love you, Lofty.”

 

The two passionately kissed, and things grew as intense as they had gotten that same morning, Lofty’s heart floated in a pool of joy at Dom’s promise to him and Dom’s body and mind relaxed with relief at Lofty not leaving him over their circumstance. Just before things got too out of hand Dom parted from the kiss, smirking devilishly as pure want coursed through him:

 

“Lock the door.”


	7. The Future is an Unknown Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THERE'S MENTION OF HOMOPHOBIA AND VIOLENCE. IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE THESE TOPICS PLEASE DON'T READ THIS CHAPTER

5 months went by and Dom had to continue seeing Violet. At every chance he tried to call things off before they got too far, but Mr Billings would always threaten him back into submission, much to the young Lord’s dismay. Lofty was finding it difficult too: being intimate with Dom was growing tricky with the knowledge of his courtship to Violet eating away at his conscience, he couldn’t help but have it bother him more and more as the days progressed. On one occasion in particular he lost his self control and begged Dom to end things with the young Billing lady; but Dom had managed to calm him down and remind him it was for the good of their own relationship. 

Why did things have to go so wrong?

Dominic was back at the Billing household, he and Violet were on one of their ritual walks around the gardens of the estate (which he had grown quite bored of) when Violet broke the silence they were sharing:

“You know Dominic, we've been seeing each other for quite some time…”

“I doubt five months is a long time Miss Billings-”

“Call me Violet please.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Oh for heaven's sake Dominic! How long do you intend to hurt me like this? My heart can’t take this anymore.”

“What on earth are you talking about?” Dom knew full well what she was insinuating and it made his head hurt - Lofty was right.

“I’m in love with you Dom!”

“Dominic. No one is to call me Dom. It’s not your place.” Rejected the young Lord. Only Lofty was allowed to call him that.

A sharp intake of breath was taken by Violet as Dom’s words smacked her, “You… Are so cruel.” She gave him a sharp slap across the cheek before turning to leave, she sobbed as she ran away back into the Billings’ home. Dom sighed in annoyance as he slowly followed her back to the house, but when he made his arrival he was met with the angry cries of Violet’s father.

“What’s wrong with you boy? She’s just gone to her room to cry!”

“It wasn’t my intention to hurt her, she said she loved me and I didn’t know how to reply.”

“You had the opportunity to propose and you didn’t take it? Are you slow in the brain?”

“P-propose? I’m sorry?”

A light bulb went if in Mr Billings’ mind, “I'll change the deal: you marry Violet, I'll support your business indefinitely. The one thing I want for her is to be happy and you seem to do just the trick.”

“You can’t make me do this. This is so wrong.”

“Oh yes I can, and I will. It’d be a shame if my good friend, the Chief of Police, was to believe you performed acts of gross indecency and perversion.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Sleeping around with other men, Lord Dominic.”

“You’re blackmailing me again?”

“You’re not as dense as I thought, very observant Dominic.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying this.”

“Prison isn’t a kind place to the rich you know… It would be such a shame if you were to end up there.”

Dom felt emotion build in his throat, trying to think of his own safety and Lofty’s sake was a difficult thing to have to balance, a single tear fell from his face as he responded, “Fine I'll do it.”

“Good man Dominic. Now I want you to go home, allow Violet to be by herself, and I want you to write and send her a letter asking to see her again. No doubt she’ll agree. During that meeting you will propose to her. Now go home.”

Dom promptly left, wiping the tears away from his eyes as he did so. As he got to the front door he was met with one of the household workers: Issac Mayfield. He was sniggering with delight at Dom’s situation.

“Quite the hilarity you turned out to be. I’m glad I left your manor when I did.”

“Shut up Mayfield. You've hurt me enough, you have no part in this.”

“You never said I couldn’t sleep with others.”

“But it’s common sense that when a man tells you his feelings you protect them by being loyal.”

“Can you really say that’s what you’re doing right now? From your reaction you've obviously found someone new - yet here you are breaking his heart without him even knowing. Marrying another girl. Tut tut Mr Copeland-”

“Enough, Issac!” Cried Dom, “And I’m Lord Copeland to you. Stay away from me.”

Dom promptly left the house and jumped into his carriage that was waiting outside, he gave the order for it to drive back to the manor and he was soon on his way home. But his mind was clouded with doubt, he couldn’t believe he was breaking Lofty’s trust again: he’d always told him he’d call off the relationship before it got out of hand; but he’d broken those promises and he didn’t know how to fix it. As the carriage drew to the house’s front door he wiped away the last of his years, he knew his under eyes would be red and rae but he’d just have to play them off (even if he knew such a tactic would never work infringe of Lofty). As he came through the front door Lofty arrived to greet him:

“Dom! The estate agent came whilst you were out, he dropped off the information for the cottage, it sounds amazing I’m so happy you’re doing this- Dom? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

“That’s a lie. You can tell me Dom, all you need to do us tell me, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

“Maybe I can’t tell you. Maybe I don’t want to tell you.”

“Dom…”

“Leave me Lofty. Just for a little bit, I need to think.”

Lofty nodded silently to Dom’s request before speaking, “I’m always here when you need me. Goodnight Dom.”

“Goodnight Lofty.”

Lofty turned to leave, but before doing so gave Dom a quick peck on the cheek, “I do love you Dom, you know that, right?”

“Yes of course I do, and I love you just as much.”

Lofty smiled, he then pulled himself away to go, he wanted to give Dom the space that he needed. How little did he know the heartbreak he was to soon experience experience at the hands of the man he trusted… That night was spent with the pair of them tossing and turning in their own separate beds, Lofty’s sleep was uneasy but it was more restful than Dom’s (who seemed to not sleep at all due to his guilt and fear acting like adrenaline). Upon waking up the next morning Dom was greeted with the inviting smell of got good that was on the try Lofty was carrying into his bedroom, for a split second he smiled at Lofty, but when he remembered the previous night’s happening his smile faded. 

“Morning Dom!” Greeted Lofty as happily as he could manage, “I had cook make breakfast for you. You’re needed to sort out paperwork in your office - a business contract from Mr Billings arrived early this morning.”

“Brilliant…” Replied Dom sullenly.

“Aw come on, your plan worked - you were right! Just remember to let Violet down easy.”

No response from Dom came.

“Dom? Did you hear me?”

“Get out.” Muttered Dom, Lofty’s words seemed to make Dom turn into another person, his own self frustrations had gotten the better of him and he was taking them out on Lofty unintentionally.

“I don’t understand? Did I say something? I’m really sorry if I did-”

“Get out Lofty!” Yelled Dom. Lofty had never had Dom tell at him before, so he flinched as Dom’s words cut into him. Dom’s anger quickly melted at the sight of Lofty’s hurt expression however, and he was quick to try and apologise, “Lofty, my God, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me…”

“It’s fine. I'll just go. But I don’t intend on speaking to you till you figure out what you need to do. I want to help you Dom, something is bothering you, but you seem hell bent on hiding it from me.”

“It’s not that.”

“Yes it is… And it’s alright. When you find the want and will to tell me you know where to find me. I'll see you later in your office to call you down for lunch and dinner.” Lofty turned to leave, opening the door to go but Dom stopped him at the door way with his words:

“I’m so sorry Lofty.” He begged.

“There’s no need to be.” Replied Lofty with a sad smile, he couldn’t help but let his emotions seep through in the heat of the moment. 

After Lofty left the room and shut the door behind himself, Dom got himself out of bed and slowly, dressed himself to work in his office. The thought of having to write the letter to Violet made his stomach churn, but the thought of telling Lofty what he was about to do made him feel worse. After settling himself down in his office chair he got out his paper and fountain pen and began writing his letter to Violet: normally he made multiple drafts before making the official letter (he always wanted things to be good quality), but because he didn’t care for the letter and its meaning in the first place, he finished the letter in one go:

“Violet, I am sorry. I wish to see you again to apologise face to face, as well as ask you something else of great importance… I hope you read these words and take them to heart.

Yours earnestly, Dominic Copeland.”

His stomach twisted as he had Lofty called to take the letter to the Billing household (as footman it was his job to undertake such tasks). When Lofty arrived he looked tired and fed up, but smiled for Dom as he made his way inside: “Dom?”

“Hi Lofty, can you deliver this to the Billing household? It’s quite urgent.”

“Right away.” Accepted Lofty as he took the letter from Dom’s hand. He promptly left the room and began to walk down the hallway when he noticed that Dom hadn’t sealed the letter with wax yet, and was about to turn around and tell him when he realised the opportunity in front of him. He didn’t want to pry or poke his nose into other people’s business, but if the contents of the letter would give him any inkling to why Dom was behaving the way he was, he wanted to find out no matter what (since he would then know to how to make him feel better). He carefully removed the paper from the envelope and began to decipher Dom’s handwriting, which was a struggle because Dom wrote in a very loopy cursive (and because Lofty was still trying to master the art of reading). When he eventually managed to figure out what the note said he felt his heart drop to his stomach, the letter’s meaning was ambiguous so there was no way he would truly know what Dom was talking about, but his gut instinct told him it wouldn’t be good for himself or what he had with Dom. He placed the paper back in the envelope and solemnly returned to Dom’s office and handed him back the letter:

“You forgot your wax seal Dom.”

“Oh, goodness, of course. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking, good spot Lofty thank you.”

Dom pulled out his wax block from the draw in his office desk as well as a box of matches. He struck one of the matches and lit it before holding its flame under the wax block, melting it to a think liquid that landed on the envelope like crimson rain, he then grabbed the wax seal on his desk and pressed it into the wax. When the wax had begun to solidify around the seal he removed it, revealing the imprint it’d created. As the wax dried the pair spoke nothing; the atmosphere dense and thick like a smog had overcome the room - both wanted to say a million things but neither knew where to start. Once the letter had been properly sealed and the wax had dried Dom handed it back to Lofty, the footman tried to make eye contact with Dom but the young Lord refused to meet with his line of sight. Lofty finally snapped and gave up his manners as he took the letter from Dom’s hand:

“What does the letter mean?” 

“You read it?” Asked Dom, who gulped with nerves.

“Yes I did. Dom, please tell me you mean to end things with Violet, please tell me that’s what the letter means…”

Dom took a long while to respond, but when he did he only tried to avoid the answer, “You have no right to read my personal-”

“Tell me Dom! I've hidden my own feelings for the past five months of you courting Violet. I need to know I mean something to you.”

“You do, love, you do…”

“Then promise me this letter is you ending the relationship.”

“I can’t promise that.”

Tears began to form in Lofty’s water line as he tried to make sense of Dom’s words, “Then… Then what does it mean?”

“Mr Billings… has informed me that the only way to remain safe and wealthy is to marry Violet.”

“Marry- marry Violet. Please tell me you’re joking.”

“I am not joking Lofty it is very serious.”

“Why are you going through with it? You could’ve said no-”

“He threatened me Lofty. He told me if I didn’t he would accuse me of perversion and send me to prison.”

“Perversion? You mean he’s aware of what we are?”

“No he doesn’t know thank God. But he’s going to accuse me anyway.”

“Then let’s run away now, right now, no marriage and no prison just us.”

“We can’t.”

“For God’s sake Dom I’m trying to give us options! I want us to be together, do you?”

“Of course I do Lofty.”

“Then why marry her?” 

“Because then my company can run itself and I’ll have the money for us to do as we please.”

“But you’ll be married Dom, what’ll we do then? It’s not like you can fake your death.”

“We can meet in secret-”

“I’m tired of being a secret! Dom I’m tired, I’m so tired of everything you couldn’t even begin to understand. I’m tired of being left to my own devices, of being left to think I’m a second thought to you.” Lofty was full on crying at this point, he didn’t hold back on the emotions he’d been keeping hidden for the past five months, and the tears that fell from his face knocked Dom sick with guilt and shame.

“Lofty…”

“I’ll deliver this letter. It doesn’t actually mention what you want to say to her, so my leaving to give this letter to Violet will give you enough time to decide what you want: me and our cottage, or Violet and her father’s money.”

“Please Lofty… You know what I’ll have to do.”

“Then you know I’ll have to leave.” Replied Lofty quietly before shutting the door behind himself. He left Dom sat at his desk, his head in his hands as his head spin with what he could do to fix everything or turn back in time or both. What was in fact only 45 minutes felt like many hours as Dom sat by himself, imagining Lofty going to the Billings Household: his tired eyes and fake smile requesting to see Violet in order to give her the letter, the supportive and comforting face he’d have to pull as he passed the letter to her dainty hand, him trying his best not to reveal his emotions as Violet happily accepted the request. When Lofty came back from his task, Dom’s imagination hadn’t got the better of him as Lofty spoke:

“Miss Violet would be most happy for you to see her again. She says to come to her home within the hour.” He said, trying to ignore Dom’s red and raw eyes. His own face was sunken and sad, deprived of joy as he tried to keep himself together.

“Good, good.” Exhaled Dom, clearly not happy by Lofty’s news. He felt his heart drop to his gut as he felt the inevitable take place.

“What are you going to do Dom?” Asked Lofty, looking into Dom’s eyes. He didn’t look angry, or annoyed, or dishevelled by what was happening - he just looked hurt.

“I want to run away with y- No... I’m going to propose to her. I can’t go to prison.”

“Then I can’t stay.” Replied Lofty, a single year falling down his face as he left the office for the last time.

“Lofty no, please I’m begging you, don’t leave me.” Pleaded Dom as he rushed over to Lofty, he’d grown desperate to the point he felt the only thing he would do was physically stop him from leaving. Lofty turned around from walking away and hugged Dom for a long, long while, Dom could feel Lofty’s body wrack with sobs as he held him; he gave Dom a gentle kiss on the cheek before saying:

“Goodbye Dominic.” 

As Lofty left the office Dom crumbled to the floor, the pair of them each felt their own hearts break at what was happening, as what could’ve been faded to nothing. Lofty slowly walked to his bedroom, taking in the hallways and the staircases - all the memories he’d made from them, when he got to his room he grabbed the small trunk that was underneath it and began packing (but not before he grabbed all the money he had left from the side draw of his small desk). There was only one place he wanted to go. Whilst Lofty packed, Dom curled himself into a ball on his office floor and wept, he squeezed himself tightly hoping it was all a bad dream and that he’d simply wake up in bed with Lofty beside him. 

But it was all too real.

Once Lofty had finished packing all his clothes into the small trunk he sat on the edge of his bed and sighed. He didn’t know what to do with himself till he looked at the drawing of Dominic he had (still on his desk) as well as the pencil and rubber next to it. He sat himself down at the desk one more time and looked at each of the writing utensils, instinctively he grabbed the pencil. He turned over the drawing to its blank side and began to write his feelings into words; he spent a little under twenty minutes trying to express himself using everything he’d learned from Dominic’s lessons. The finished product, he had to admit, was quite good for its purpose. He left the paper there on the desk before grabbing his trunk and leaving the manor house for good. 

Dom heard the echoes of the front door slam behind Lofty as he left the manor house, which only made him cry harder. By this point he’d sat himself back in his chair and allowed himself to feel every ounce of heartache he deserved, “So this is how Lofty felt all that time…” He thought to himself over and over. Half an hour passed before Dominic, weak with emotion, shakily took himself out of the office to walk around the manor (trying what he could to distract himself). As he allowed himself to be led by the house’s architecture, he naturally found himself at Lofty’s bedroom door, he instinctively knocked before remembering Lofty was gone. As he exhaled a sigh, he pushed down the handle and slid inside the room, taking in the smell of his footman that still lingered in the room’s air; he was quick to notice the piece of paper left on the desk. He made his way over to it and picked it up, he gasped at what he saw: the drawing of him was exquisite; with every detail accurate to his own, he had no idea of Lofty’s ability as an artist… The light from the window just in front of Lofty’s desk revealed there was writing on the other side of the paper and Dom hastily turned the paper look at it. But the words one the page only added salt to his already aching wounds:

“If love is such a fleeting thing,  
Why does the heart remain  
To shiver, wither and die in the cold,  
Could our hearts not beat the same?

A man once said: let no man love  
Another, except as friends, but wait  
I’ll ask, my Lord, if the man were God  
Would you let my sad heart wait?

Oh, yes, you would. Do not protest.  
You’d watch me hurt as the pain sunk in  
Knowing you are a man I treasure  
Like a watch, or crown or jeweled pin.

Well then, my Lord, since the man is God  
You’ll let my sad heart break.” 

Dom held back tears as he slid the paper into his pocket, he saw the time on the wall and remembered he had to be at the Billings’ household soon, he promptly left the room and locked it behind himself with the skeleton key he always had on his person - if Lofty wasn’t there no one else would have his room - it was like sacred ground to the young Lord now. He took his time walking around to the front door of the manor to go to the carriage, he wanted his eyes to look normal and like he hadn’t been crying before he gave up everything and proposed to Violet. Just before he got to the front door one of the house workers tried to speak to him.

“Are you alright my Lord? I saw Lofty leave, we all did, when’s he coming back?”

“Never.”

“Pardon my Lord?”

“I said he’s not coming back, now go away.”

“N-not coming back? What happened-”

“Go away!” Yelled Dom, he was already on edge; being heartbroken as well as angry at himself was a toxic combination, “Just go call me a carriage.”

“R-right away, my Lord.” Replied the worker as he shuffled off to complete Dominic’s orders. Sure enough a carriage was outside his manor within minutes and he was soon on his way to Violet and her home a little over half an hour away. When his carriage pulled up to the familiar front door Mr Billings was already stood outside waiting for him.

“Ah, my boy! Finally being a man and living up to your promises eh? Very good, Violet is inside waiting for you. So you have a ring?”

“Oh, oh no it completely slipped my mind. I was too overwhelmed with trying to find the right words to say in my letter.” Lied Dominic.

“Ah, a worthy sacrifice, she was over the moon when your footman delivered it to her. Luckily for you I have my grandmother’s ring with me that you can give her.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Call me father!” Jokes Mr Billings as he gave Dom a hearty but slightly painful slap on the back, “The money I promised should be in your bank soon enough, you’ll never have to worry about money again I can promise you that.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Now, get yourself in there and propose!” The old man exclaimed as he dropped the ring into the palm of Dom’s hand. Dom faked a smile as he made his way inside, (rather than nerves) Dom felt the guilt writhe inside him as he saw Violet sat playing the piano that was in the main living room.

“You play beautifully.” He commented, trying to make conversation.

“If music be the food of love…” Replied Violet, still playing.

“Play on.”

“Oh, so you know Shakespeare?”

“Of course who wouldn’t?”

“You’re a man of good taste Lord Copeland.”

“I also used to think I was a man of good decision making, it’s funny how wrong one can be Miss Violet.”

“I’m sure one mistake will eventually be forgotten.”

“Yes but the pain it causes will last a lifetime.”

“Dominic what are you on about?”

“Oh, a simple nothing you don’t need to worry yourself on. Miss Violet do you know why I’m here?”

“I can’t say I do.” She responded, Violet stopped playing the piano and turned to face Dominic who was still stood up at the living room doorway, “Care to explain?”

Dom cautiously made his way inside the room, not wanting to sit down, “After what happened last night-”

“An act of cruel behaviour on your behalf.”

“Yes… Exactly that. I want to redeem myself.”

“And how do you intend to do that?”

Dom coughed to empty his throat before stepping closer to Violet, he bent down on one knee in front infront of her (with her still sat on the piano bench), “Violet, I have one very important question to ask you; and your answer will either make me the happiest man alive, or forever heartbroken.”

Violet gasped as Dom produced the ring from his pocket, “Dominic you can’t possibly mean…”

“I do, I really do. Miss Violet Billings, will you do me the favour of becoming my wife?”

“Oh, Dominic of course I will!” Violet squealed as she watched Dom slide the ring on her finger. Dom feigned a smile as Violet hugged him for a long while, “Oh we must tell Daddy so we can celebrate tonight!” 

“I’m afraid I can’t tonight, I have urgent business to attend I’m sorry, but I promise you we will celebrate this soon enough.”

“Where do you have to go?”

“Just to London Town, there's a man who used to work for me I need to discuss things with about him returning.” 

“Oh I do hope you don’t you take very long, but I understand, I'll seen you soon Dominic!”

“I’ll see you soon too Violet.” Replied Dom as he turned to leave, just before he left the room however Violet's words stopped him in his tracks:

“Dominic… Before you go, tell me you love me?”

“Oh, umm… I plan on saving those words for our wedding day.”

“Oh you’re romantic, I can’t be upset with a response like that, go on!”

“See you later.” Replied Dom, he then quickly left the living room, he said goodbye to Me Billings and went back to his carriage. Once he was sat down his driver spoke:

“Back to the manor house sir?”

“No, London Town, there’s some unfinished business I need to sort.”

“Right away sir.”

Dom sat in the carriage with his pulse racing, he had no idea what he was going to say once he arrived at the slums. His search for Lofty would be quick enough since he’d travelled the slums before and was confident his memory wouldn’t fail him - but would Lofty be where he would look? He just decided to presume he would find him soon enough. When the carriage came to a halt in London Town Dom practically leapt out of the carriage and sprinted to the slums area nearby, he ignored the menacing glares of the poor pickpockets as he sprinted through the closed off streets and alleyways, but rather than him finding his answer; his answer found him. Alec was sat at his doorstep pissed to high Hell, he’d failed to make Lofty feel any better, and it was all Lord Copeland’s fault (Alec was Lofty’s best friend, so the Ex-Footman had given him details of their relationship). Even when Lofty had come to visit for those short few days, he couldn’t help but bring up the Lord at every opportunity, so why had that man hurt his best friend so badly. As he was simmering away he spotted a young rich man stop in his tracks from running, and look about his surroundings. It was him. That Lord, the one that hurt Lofty, he was there right in front of him. He picked himself up from the doorstep as he felt his blood boil, he quickly paced over to the Lord (his hand clenched tightly into a fist) and made himself known to Dom by muttering:

“You son of a-” But he replaced the end of his sentence with a sharp hook to Dom’s face. Dom fell to the floor, in shock from the punch, but before he could process what had happened Alec was sat heavily on his chest and was yelling. “Do you know what you fucking did to him? How you broke him? How you broke his heart? He had so much hope that you actually gave a damn and you threw him away for a pissing wad of cash and a girl!”

“I know…”

“No. I don’t think you do. Lofty has had to do time before, he knows full well what prison is like, he’s received enough beatings from wardens simply because they felt like it - he has the scars to prove it! And you can’t handle the thought of being broke-”

“They were going to put me in prison.”

“Then take it like a man! Take every beating they give you. You know for a fact Lofty would've taken every punch if it meant he’d be with you at the end of his sentence. You know he would've waited for you if you ended up in the clink!”

“I was scared. I am scared.”

“And how scared do you think Lofty is right now? He’s on his own with only a rough idea of where he’s headed.”

Dom froze as Alec’s words set in, “You… You mean he’s not here?”

“No. He’s not here. Believe me I tried, but he came here to give one last goodbye.”

“Tell me where he went.”

“Why should I? So you can find him and rub your new wealth in his face? You’re plain stupid if you think I’m gonna do that-”

“Tell me because I love him! And I can’t imagine my life without him, and even if I do it’s just a life that isn’t worth living.”

“You mean what you say?”

“Every word and then some.”

Alex stared long and hard at Dom, but all he would see was truth swimming in Dom’s eyes - he really did mean it when he said he loved him, he smiled faintly before responding, “I’m sorry, I can’t. He wouldn't tell me.” He got himself off Dom and helped the young Lord back up off the ground, he wiped off the dirt from his jacket as his anger dissipated to pity, “But he did tell me that if by some slim chance you showed up, which you have, to say that only you know where he’s headed.”

“That doesn’t make sense, we’ve never… God, I don’t know! I can’t think anymore, I haven't been able to think right since he left. Thank you though, what’s your name?”

“Alec. I’m Lofty’s best mate, have been ever since I found him scrounging for coins on my side of the street as a kid.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, granted I beat him up for it. But after that I wasn’t able to find many coins, he had though so he bought me a pie, I said sorry and we've been best friends ever since.”

“That's nice.” Smiled Dom, even just talking about Lofty (despite the pain) managed to make him smile.

“I’m worried for him you know.” Said Alec with a serious look of concern on his face.

“Me too… I just hope I haven’t been too late. Goodbye, and thank you.” 

“Good luck with your search for him sir.”

“Search?”

“You love him, no doubt you’re gonna look for him, I hope you find him.”

“Oh, yes, I do too. I’m too scared to lose him.” Replied Dom, he then pondered back to his carriage as he rubbed his face from where he’d been punched; Alec hadn’t apologised over the attack, but Dom didn’t mind - he’d deserved it. He slumped back into his seat and the carriage made its way back to the manor house, on the way back Dom felt himself want to cry again: as much as he wanted to find Lofty, he had no idea where to start in the search, for the first time since Lofty had left the manor:

He felt like Lofty was truly gone forever.


	8. Wedding Bells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit short but trust me I've planned it all out

Dom had allowed Violet to organise the whole wedding, he was in no place to think about the ceremony or the venue or the after party - his mind had been overwhelmed with Lofty. He’d spent the past two weeks looking around London town searching for Lofty, his other half, but to no avail: he wasn’t sleeping in doorways, or working in small shops, he wasn't scrounging for pennies on the streets and he wasn’t living with anyone he knew (including the manager from the factory he previously worked at). Dom had tried to seem excited for the wedding, he’d even pushed for the wedding to take place as soon as possible after his proposal, but it was apparent he was feeling low - and Violet could see this as plainly as the nose on her own face.

  
“Dominic, love, what’s the matter?” She asked as she played the piano in the living room of her home. Dominic was sat on the sofa, his eyes glazed past Violet and focused on the view coming from the window just behind the piano.

 

“Hmm? Oh, nothing, just lost in thought again…”

 

“It’s the night before our wedding and you look like you’re ready to run!” She laughed, she was joking, but little did she know how tempting those words were to Dom.

 

“It’s alright, really, I’ve just been in a sour mood lately is all. It’s not your fault, it’s all mine.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about.”

 

“Dom, I may be a lady but I can handle the difficult subjects of life-”

 

“For Christ's sake Violet what have I told you? You don’t need to know therefore don’t press me on the matter! And I’ve repeatedly told you never to call me Dom-”   
  


“You’re footman gets to call you Dom though…”

 

Dom froze as Lofty was brought into the conversation, “Pardon?”

 

“Your footman, he arrived with you letter? He called you Dom as he handed me the letter, quite endearingly if I say so myself.”

 

“That’s enough Violet.”

 

“Sorry… What’s his name?”

 

“Lofty- Ben. His name is Ben, but I’ve always called him Lofty. It’s what he prefers to go by.”

 

“Odd nickname.”   
  


“It’s fitting for him.”   
  


“How long has he been your footman?”   
  


Dom held back his emotions as he responded, “He worked for me for a long time.”   
  


“What do you mean ‘worked’? Is he no longer in your employment?”

 

“No, he’s gone.”   
  


“Guessing he was either of no use to you or was too useless to be useful-”

 

“Don’t insinuate, Violet.” Spat Dom, “Lofty, as a friend, meant a great deal to me, and he was very capable at his work.”

 

“I’m sorry Dom, all of my words seem to rub you up the wrong way tonight.”   
  


“They seem to be, yes.” 

 

“It may be best if you go home, to cool off, you’re obviously flustered with having to organise the wedding on top of all your work.”   
  


“Yes I think I am, thank you for understanding.”

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow Dominic! I’m so excited for you to see me walk down the aisle!” But Dom’s mind had wandered again as Violet spoke, he was too busy imagining a wedding with Lofty to focus on the one he was already apart of, “Dom? Dom! Are you even listening to me?”   
  


Dom snapped out of his hypnotic state, as Violet’s words had brought him down from his own cloud nine, “Oh, yes, wedding - very good.”

 

“Oh just go home Dominic.” Sighed Violet, frustrated that Dom hadn’t actually been listening.

 

“Okay, good night Violet.” Yawned Dom as he got himself off the sofa and made his way over to the living room door to leave.

 

“Night Dominic.” Replied Violet.

 

Once Dom had left the room and the slam of the front door would be heard, Violet rose from her seat at the piano and made her way over to the sofa before collapsing into it - drained and tired form her emotions. Not long after her doing this her father came in to see her, he looked very happy from seeing Dominic off an expressed so with his greeting to Violet as he joined her on the sofa:

 

“You’ve chosen a good man Violet! Couldn’t be happier, maybe Dominic and myself would join forces in the workplace!” He smiled cheesily before noticing the sad and confused look that had molded onto Violet’s face, “What’s wrong darling? Getting cold feet before the big day?” He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

 

“Is a wedding supposed to feel like this?”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Rushed and unthought out and like my groom doesn’t actually care for me and like it all counts for naught and-”   
  


“Woah woah woah, calm yourself Violet. What’s gotten into you?”

 

“I feel like Dom doesn’t actually care for me. Like he’s doing it because he feels he has to… Like he thinks it’s the one thing he has left to do - get married. I feel like an afterthought in my own engagement!” Violet saw her father shift uncomfortably in his seat, “Daddy? Do you know what’s making Dominic act like this? And don’t you dare try to lie to me, I want the truth.”

 

Mr Billings looked like he was about to tell the truth, when the reality of the situation his him like a ton of bricks, and before he had realised he was already speaking his web of manipulated lies, “Aw Violet, Dominic is just a worrier! He other thinks things and grows sidetracked to the big things, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”   
  


“I doubt that.” Glared Violet, completely oblivious to her father’s bluff and lie, “I’m going to go to bed, I need to look nice and well rested for the wedding tomorrow.”

 

“Goodnight darling.”

 

“Yes father.” Replied Violet as she left, she wasn’t quite on the verge of tears, but it was apparent to everyone in the household that she was emotional about her wedding for all the wrong reasons. Mr Billings side as the living room door was shut and Violet made her way upstairs to her bedroom, he hated the fact he had lied to his own daughter: but a deal had been made between himself and Dominic - and as a hard headed practical man of business he intended to keep his side of the deal. He too eventually headed to bed not long after, his brain whirring away at what he would threaten Dom with next in order to make him buck up his ideas, but he had grown too tired for such things. As he crawled into bed he gave his wife, Mrs Billings a gentle kiss on the cheek before properly lying down to rest.

 

Not many people managed to sleep soundly that night.

 

Dominic tossed and turned in his bed as the thought of the wedding loomed over him like the plague, as the young Lord failed to rest so did Violet: her head swimming with thoughts about how to fix their predicament. Lofty slept cold and tired and hungry as his heart ached for a familiar face to visit him again, even if only for a moment, he’d've given his world for a few seconds with Dominic… The only person who slept well seemed to be Mr Billings; unphased by his own actions he was happy the plan was going along well enough (except for Dom’s recent distant behaviours towards his daughter). The next morning Dom awoke in his bed and let out a happy sigh as the warm bed sheets enveloped him in a lazy and warm hug, he turned over on his side and smiled:

 

“Good morning Lofty-” But his words were cut short as he saw the empty space next to him in the bed, he stopped the tears from coming to his eyes and say himself up in bed, “I wish it was our wedding day I was waking up to. I wish I knew where you were…”

 

Dom slowly got out of bed, and without zest got ready for his wedding day. As Elliot rushed about with suits and trousers and polished Oxfords Dom stood on the fitting room podium sad and tired, as the final details of the suit were added Elliot spoke his mind.

 

“You miss him terribly don’t you.”

 

“Who are you talking about Elliot?”

 

“You know perfectly well who I’m talking about, do not deny it my Lord - I’m talking about young Lofty.”

 

“And what if I did know who you were talking about?”

 

“Then I'd say it’s not too late to pack a bag and go find him. Marriage won’t fix this.”

 

“He has nothing to do with this marriage.” Replied Dom stiffly, but Elliot saw right through him and his blatant lie.

 

“I doubt that. The sooner you accept you love him to sooner you can have a genuine happy ending.”

 

“What do you know about my feelings.”

 

“You smile more. It used to be so forced and fake, but Lofty came along and it smoothed into pure happiness. Dom, I've never seen you smile so much when he was here, especially whenever you looked at him. And if of course the way he looked at you too.”

 

“It’s a bit late to talk about this. The ceremony is in under two hours.”

 

“There’s still time.”

 

“There is time, just not enough of it.”

 

At that moment a servant of the manner opened the door; “My Lord, you carriagento the church is ready. Also, a gentleman came to the door and delivered this, final documents about something.”

 

“Very good I’ll take them with me.” Replied Dom, clueless as to what the documents were about. He took them from the servants grasp and held them, he didn’t open them, not yet - he would do so as he waited for the ceremony to begin. “I’m off to the church Elliot.”

 

“You could be off finding Lofty-”

 

“Don’t. Stop. I've tried my best to drown out the truth do not have it resurface.” 

 

“If you find your answer, I hope you make the right decision as for what to do next.”

 

“I do too.”

 

And with that Dominic left the manor for the church: it was a nice enough building with it’s simple stone walls, it was shaped like a cross, and the weather played well with the coming ceremony; a bright blue sky spread across the scenic sight like rich paint on a canvas. Dom was led inside to a private room where he could keep himself company till he was needed for the ceremony to begin, when he sat down in one of the large armchairs he stared at the armchair opposite him and imagined Lofty was sat in it, laughing and smiling as they read poetry and joked about trivial things, it was a nice thought. But after a long while, after realising what he was doing, Dom scolded himself and decided to distract his love deprived mind with the paperwork he’d been given back at the manor. He opened the think beige envelope to find it was from the real estate agency: it was about the cottage. It was just a simple statement saying all the paperwork had gone through and that the cottage was, officially, his own. Seeing the words on the page made Dom feel like throwing the sheets of paper out of the window, he’d had enough reminders of Lofty and what was meant to be their cottage- wait.

 

“The cottage…” Dom muttered under his breath, “The cottage.” He repeated again. As the puzzle pieces began to fall into place he picked himself up out of his armchair and grasped the papers firmly, “The cottage, in Yorkshire, that’s where he has to be! There’s no other place he could go to, of course he has to be there how would I be so stupid!” He excitedly danced around the room and began to set out writing an apology letter to Violet (intending to leave as soon as possible to hastily pack back at the manor), he knew his bank details so he’d be able to withdraw all his money later, his heart swelled at the thought of reuniting with his beloved footman once more, until one of the church workers arrived:

 

“Lord Dominic? You’re needed for the ceremony. You must be awfully excited my Lord.”

 

Dom’s face fell into a look of terror, “Excitement yes, but for all, what you would say, the wrong reasons.” The church worker gave a look of confusion, “It’s doesn’t matter.” Dom stood there and thought of his options, just as he was about to tell the worker to shut the door (he’d wanted to lie about being there later, deciding he would instead escape another way) Violet’s father appeared silently behind the worker, he didn’t make himself known, but he instead gave Dom a menacing stare - it was as if he knew exactly what was going through Dom’s mind and it made the young Lord feel sick to his stomach. As he felt his heart break all over again he spoke, “Let’s go, can’t keep the guests waiting much longer I suppose.” He gave a fake and beaming smile as he followed the worker to the main wedding hall, Violet’s father was walking behind him so there’d be no way for Dom to make a last minute escape. After the long and deafening silence that ensued, Dom eventually made it to the top of the aisle, he was stood near the altar and the priest (who gave him a warm and welcoming smile), but Dom felt far from easy - he would practically see Lofty walking away from him all over again! He felt his heart sink lower than it already was when the wedding song began to play: the double doors at the other end of the hall swung open and the whole congregation turned to see the stunning Miss Violet in her pure white wedding dress; the cut was simple with some silk accents at the neckline as well as the hem of the dress, he veil and train was long and flowy - even Dom had to admit she looked very angelic as she was walked down the aisle by her father (who was still giving Dom looks of intimidation). When she made it down the aisle and met Dom, the young Lord made his way over to take Violet from her father’s arm, just before doing so Mr Billings spoke softly:

 

“I have changed my mind. Only once you marry my Violet will you get the contract deal, her dowry, and the extra money as previously arranged - I don’t want you getting cold feet.” Mr Billings whispered quite quietly, Violet didn’t hear a word of what he said, but that didn’t stop her from looking uneasy and uncomfortable as she saw Dom’s face grow paler at her father’s hushed words. Dom replastered the smile to his face and recomposed himself, he took Violet by the arm and led her to short distance back up to the altar where the priest was stood patiently waiting. Violet and her husband to be didn’t share a word as the wedding song continued to play till its very end, she didn’t look very happy either - much rather that being a glowing and radiant bride, she looked solemn and sad as she looked at Dom. Only when the song had done so did the priest begin to speak:

  
“Dearly beloved, we are all gathered here today to celebrate the beautiful bond of matrimony between Lord Dominic Copeland, and his betrothed young lady Miss Violet Billings…”


	9. A Wedding Proceeds

As the Priest continued to speak the glares and stares of the congregation felt like daggers on Dom's back, he could feel the radiating heat of what they expected from him without anyone having to speak. As the speech continued Dom grew more and more flustered and emotional, feeling like he would pass out Violet repeatedly tried to give him comforting looks - but these only filled him with more guilt and nerves and a swirling sick feeling that flooded his gut. The mass of people in the church's audience all melted into one face, the same expression, the same aura surrounding each and every individual - everyone had become one giant symbol of Dom's fear. The young Lord could feel himself grow faint and pale as he thought of Lofty, waiting for him back at the cottage; he was so distracted by this that he didn't initially notice the Priest try to speak to him:  
  
"My Lord... My Lord?"  
  
Dom snapped out of his trance like thoughts, "Oh I'm sorry, yes, continue."  
  
"Your vows. I pressume you have written something?"  
  
"Of course." Lied Dom, he let out a cough to clear his throat before improvising his wedding vows, "Violet, you look so beautiful today. I can't express the words I'm feeling in fear of looking weak, and I would like to say much more, but alas I shouldn't. When we are bound together in marriage, I swear, to try and make you the happiest bride on this green earth."  
  
Violet revealed a smile, although it looked fake and forced, she looked for a long while into Dominic's eyes before continuing with her own vows, "Dominic, I've been intreagued by your presence since I first met you: so charming and kind, every bit the gentleman you're known to be. There are times where we clash and there are times where we get along fine - when I become your wife, and yours entirely, please remember I truly love you no matter what we go through."  
  
"How lovely." Commented the Priest as he listened to Violet's words, "Now, to the main part of this ceremony with the exchanging of the rings and whatnot." The Priest handed Violet and Dom a ring each, Dom's hand trembled as the golden circle fell into his palm, his nerves oozed out of him in cold sweat. "My Lord repeat after me: I give you this ring."  
  
"I give you this ring."  
  
"I... I give you this ring."  
  
"As a token of my love."  
  
"As a token of my love."  
  
"And loyalty to you."  
  
Dom struggled with the last few words as his mind cast back to Lofty leaving the manor house, "And loyalty to you." After saying this he slid the ring onto Violet's ring finger.  
  
"Miss Billings, now you do the same, repeat after me: I give you this ring."  
  
"I give you this ring."  
  
"As a token of my love."  
  
"As a token of my love."  
  
"And loyalty to you."  
  
"And loyalty to you." Vioelt put the ring on Dom's finger, she looked again, long and hard into Dom's eyes, trying to find and inch of enjoyment from the moment they were sharing - but any emotion in his eyes seemed gone, washed away by the tears.  
  
"Dominic Copeland, do you take Vioelt to be your wedded wife? To love and to hold, in sickness and health, till death do you part?"  
  
Dom shut his eyes, he reminded himself of everything he'd experianced with Lofty for one last time, "I do." As tear fell from his eye as he promised away the last of his furture.  
  
"Violet Billings do you take Dominic to be your wedded husband? To love and to hold, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?"  
  
Violet looked at the congregation of guests, she looked at her father and her mother, and then looked at Dominic, she took a deep breath in and sighed before responding (tears forming in her waterline): "I cannot."  
  
Audible gasps could be heard from many, if not all, the guests. Her mother seemed to go pale as he father went very red with anger. Dom looked up and stared at Vioelt, "I, I don't understand, I thought that you-"  
  
"I do love you Dominic. But you don't love me, do you?"  
  
Dom came close to denying her words, but he knew if was pointless lying to her now, "I'm afraid it's true, my heart belongs to another."  
  
"I thought as much."

"I'm so sorry Violet. I never meant for it to get this out of hand. Your father told me if I didn't marry you he'd ruin me. I was scared..."  
  
"I knew he was hiding something from me, I just never thought to that extent. Dom you deserve to be happy, and you won't find that happiness with me."  
  
"With your permission, may I go leave to find that happiness once more?"  
  
"I suggest you do, before my father gets you first."  
  
"Thank you Violet." Dom gave Violet a kiss on the cheek as thanks, "I'm forever in your debt." As Dom finished the words Violet slipped her gold wending band into the palm of Dom's hand.  
  
A single tear rolled down Violet's face as she watched Dom sprint out of the church, it wasn't long before what had happened sunk into her father and he began yelling and shouting, "Be quiet father!" She commanded from the top of the aisle, "You have no say in this. Next time I fall in love it will happen of its own accord - not because of you."  
  
This shut Mr Billings up quite well. He stood there shocked at his daughter's words, but did not protest, knowing she was stating truth and facts. As the congregation and the bride absorbed what had happened, Dom was sat in a carriage on his way to London Town; there he would go to the bank and take out all the money from his account. After doing so and getting back into the carriage he evenly divided the money so each of his workers would have enough money to last them till they found another job (making sure he had enough left over for his train and things that would be needed later on). When he got back into the manor he set the evenly divided cash into the main hallway table, and quickly scribbled a note apologising for his sudden leaving and discharging of their services. He explained he would sell the manor later on after arriving at his destination. Nobody would see this note till the next day (he'd given his house staff the day off due to the wedding) so he sprinted upstairs to pack; only clothes he knew would last went into his travel bag, he'd sell his expensive clothes later, and he'd purchase better clothes at a later time. He quickly went into Lofty's old room to see if there were clothes in the wardrobe he could take with him, Lofty had taken everything, but had managed to forget his old cap (the one he'd saved up for for so long before Dom hired him). Dom smirked as he grabbed it and threw it in his bag. He made his way down the stairs, the remnants of his money in one bag with his good clothes, the deeds to the manor and his expensive clothes (all of which could be sold later) in another. He shut the door behind himself for the last time and hopped back into he carriage. He sighed as the carriage began to drive away, he took in one last look of the manor like it was an old friend he wouldn't see for years to come (if not ever again). The journey was a silent one to the station, by now angry family members and wedding goers would be at his front door furious; so he felt at ease knowing he'd soon be on a train to safety. Upon arriving at the station he tipped his driver and went over to the ticket master:  
  
"Afternoon sir, my you look dressed up for a wedding sir!"  
  
"I'm afraid I was. But I'm in need of a ticket to Yorkshire - urgent matter of great importance."  
  
"Of course sir, first class?"  
  
"No just standard, I can't waste money on luxuries anymore."  
  
"Very good sir, I'll warn you to change into something less fancy, less you want the traingoers to try an' mug you for your money."  
  
"Thank you, I'll change as soon as I can!"  
  
As the ticket master took Dom's money and in return gave him a ticket, he spoke: "No problem at all sir, have a pleasant journey!"  
  
"I certainly will given what's there at my destination, thank you again."  
  
Dom left the ticket office, ticket in hand and a smile of glee spread across his face. One step closer to where he was meant to be - where he should've been as soon as the word "marriage" had been mentioned. There was still half an hour till his train arrived so he stepped into one of the public bathrooms and changed. 

He undressed and placed his groomly tuxedo into his bag of other expensive clothes and redressed into more causual attire: not quite poor looking but certainly not flashy enough for people to think he was a Lord. He stepped out of the toilets and back into his train's platform to wait impatiently for it to arrive; he stood there silent, trying to imagine what he would say to Lofty when he showed up at the cottage door, maybe he wouldn't be able to say anything? Maybe Lofty wouldn't want him to say anything and would instead turn him away immediately? But the young undercover Lord didn't have time to dwell on such things since the train arrived not too long after he began thinking. He stepped into standard class (an unusual feeling for him to say he least) and sat himself down in one of the public seats, the train was surprisingly empty (besides himself) which made for little noise in the carriage. Dom sighed in weary relief at his narrowr escape from marriage, and for the umpteenth time silently thanked Violet for doing what she did, when suddenly a very tall and skinny man with a leather handbag appeared on the carriage, he sat himself in the seat behind Dominic's before pulling out a book and reading. Dom didn't take particular notice of the man till he realised the man's book was written in Swedish:  
  
"Are you Swedish or do you just speak the language?" Asked Dom, turning around in his seat to speak to the tall man.  
  
"I'm from Sweden, yes."  
  
"How come you're hear? In England I mean."  
  
"Things happened and life plans changed. As a surgeon I am lucky to be able to take my business wherever I go." The tall man smiled as he patted his leather bag, indicating the tools of his trade were inside of it.  
  
"What's your name if you don't mind me asking?"  
  
"Henrik Lovbörg Hanssen. And yours?"  
  
"Dominic Copeland."  
  
"Very good to meet you."  
  
"And you sir." Replied Dom, he outstretched his hand for Henrik to shake, which the tall man did; his handshake was strong and confident, but Dom was quick to notice how small and nimble his fingers looked, "You must be a surgeon, your hands, look suited to the practice."  
  
"I take that as a compliment."  
  
"Great, well, I suppose I should let you get back to your reading."  
  
"No not at all, if you wish to hold conversation go ahead, as much as it may seem contrary to my appearance - I do infact enjoy speaking to others."  
  
"Thank you, I must ask, what's it like in Sweden?"  
  
The unlikely pair grew deep and hearty in their conversations, due to the amonimity of being strangers to eachother, both felt comfortable sharing more than what most would normally share with friends. The carriage became filled with their voices, and their discussions, and their views of politics and law and justice and even romance:  
  
"Mr Hanssen what is your view on love?" Asked Dom.  
  
"Difficult question, why do you ask?"  
  
"I'm in love myself, some may say the wrong person, and I nearly lost them. I've thrown everything away to find them and be with them again. I was interested in your view of romance."  
  
"Well I believe that love, true love, is a very rare and beautiful thing; more beautiful than any surgery I could perform. When someone finds it, no matter where it is, they should try their best to keep hold of it as well as they can. I must say you have quite a level of respect from me after saying you threw everything away for it."  
  
"Some may call me stupid for it."  
  
"And I call you galant and strong willed. Not everyone could do what you've done. I tip my metaphorical hat off to you sir."  
  
"Have you ever done anything like that? Given everything up, for love?"  
  
Henrik though for a long, long while, as if he was walking through a maze within his mind, trying to find the memories he'd tried to lose so long ago, "I nearly did, once. I was about to do it, till she vanished, without a trace."  
  
"Oh, oh I'm so sorry."  
  
"Don't be; I miss her more and more every day but I hope we see eachother again soon."  
  
"I hope you do too, you're a very nice man Mr Hanssen."  
  
"As are you Mr Copeland."

"Just Dom's fine, I'm not a fan of formality, and I really won't need it where I'm headed."  
  
"Where's your destination?"  
  
"Yorkshire."  
  
"What a shame, I'll be quite a distance away from that, I'm starting up a practice in Holby."  
  
"Sounds promising, I'm sure you'll get plenty of patients."  
  
"Let's hope so. Most of the profit I make for it will go to charities."  
  
"That sounds wonderful."  
  
"What do you intend to do Dominic?"  
  
"Like I said, find the person I love. When I do, and hoping it goes well, I'll stay with him and live out the rest of my life there."  
  
"Did you say "him" Dominic?"  
  
Dom froze as he realised the secrey he'd accidentally let slip, "I, I um- it was just-"  
  
"It's quite alright - I do have a heart you know. I see no problem with same sex relationships."  
  
"R-Really?"  
  
"Yes, it's love defying the odds, how can I not be okay with that? Besides, it does help the overpopulation."  
  
Dom let out a chuckle as he allowed Henrik's words to humour him, "So... You're not going to tell the police?"  
  
"What would I say? "Help I've discovered a man in love." would sound ridiculous. No Dominic, you can be assured I have no issue with who you are, or who anyone is for that matter. Unless of course they are bad people: murders and robbers and pickpockets, the list goes on."  
  
"Thank you. It's comforting to know we aren't completely alone in this world, that there are people who understand."  
  
"The beauty of an anatomy book is that it does not tell you what to believe morally. It simply tells you science and facts."  
  
"Sounds poetic."  
  
"It is in a way, I suppose."  
  
The rest of their journey was spent like this, Henrik talked about his practice as a surgeon, Dom talked about all the things he looked forward to seeing in Yorkshire. As the fresh greenery and trees and chessboard farmers fields whirred past, the pair of strangers bonded more and more, a kind old lady drove though the carriage with refreshments and Henrik was kind enough to buy Dom a cup of tea (much to Dom's polite protest). Eventually, however, the stop at Holby Train Station came and Dr. Henrik Hanssen had to leave; he grabbed his leather bag and stood up from his seat:  
  
"This is goodbye Dominic, it has been a lovely conversation, much better than Swedish books."  
  
"I'm glad you thought so." Smiled Dom, "Thank you for talking to me, and of course for the tea. Perhaps we may meet again one day?"  
  
"Perhaps we will." Henrik then stood off the carriage and onto the Holby Station platform, he gave Dominic a wave goodbye as the train restarted and rolled away; getting closer and closer to Dom's destination. Now Dom had no one to talk to the journey seemed to drag, no book to read or pen and pencil to write or draw, the young Lord was bored out of his mind. Long distance trains were always empty, and being alone in the carriage, Dom felt like he would go insane of he didn't have some sort of human interaction.  
  
When the train finally arrived at Richmond Station in Yorkshire, Dom was very relieved. He stepped off the train and onto the platform, taking in a large lungful of air; he appreciated how much fresher it was - even more so than where his old manor was. He showed the ticket master at the office his ticket, proving he hadn't hopped on the train for free, and walked out of the station - all he had to do now was find the cottage. He decided he would walk through the main town, getting used to the sights he would soon call home, he walked over the bridge built over the Richmond river and took in the sight of the ribbon of water winding down between the trees and the rocky gravel, the sky was a brilliant blue and the weather was perfect for sightseeing. Once over the bridge it was a very quick walk up the slope that led to the small main town: cobbled streets; roads that jutted out to more locally owned shops and stalls and streetperformers, the obelisk at the centre was neighboured by the clock tower. After perusing and window shopping the majority of the shops Dom decided to take one of the small ally roads down to the other shops where a real estate building sat.

He entered and was quickly greeted by one of the workers there:  
  
"Hiya, how can I help you today?"  
  
"I purchased a cottage here recently. I'm new to the area and don't know where it is, could I ask for some directions?"  
  
"Can I see the documents of this cottage please?"  
  
"Of course." Agreed Dominic as he pulled the thick beige envelope out of his cheap clothes bag, the worker studied it and smiled.  
  
"Ah, a right lovely cottage that is, I see it all the time, lovely area too. Clever of you to have it house sitted till you got here."  
  
"House sitted?"  
  
"Just go up this street," continued the worker, "and follow the signs to the Florist's from there you take a left and go that little alleyway, there's black and orange cat there, if it's not there then you're on the wrong street. Anyway, pass the cat ally and take a right, climb the hilly bit and your cottage is just at the top. Fifteen minutes walk at most. If you get lost the localls are more than willing to help you." The real estate agent said this all very quickly, and with his broad accent (that was unfamiliar to Dom), he eventually realised this and wrote all the information he'd said down onto paper.  
  
"Ah thank you very much, you've been great."  
  
"Glad I could help, let me know what you think of the cottage when you get the chance!"  
  
"Will do, thank you." Replied Dom as he left the shop, the paper with directions on it gripped tightly in his hand.  
  
"Anytime." Smiled the worker as Dom shut the door behind himself.  
  
Dom began his task of following the directions which, despite their unusual details, were surprisingly accurate; there was infact a black and orange cat wandering the ally street when Dom came upon it, as he continued walking he was greeted by friendly locals that waved and helloed and offered help when they saw him looking lost. What was meant to take fifteen minutes had take Dom almost half an hour. But when he eventually arrived at the cottage front door he could feel his heart pounding. He couldn't see it hear any signs of life inside the coattage, so rapped lightly on the wooden front  door with his knuckles.  
  
"Lofty... It's me. Dom."  
  
As soon as Dom had stated his name he hear the slight scrape and shuffle of someone moving within the house, when Lofty opened the door the pair of them both felt their hearts leap with joy, but both tried to contain themselves (which neither did very well):  
  
"Dom, why are you here?" Asked Lofty, his eyes full of hope.  
  
"Today was my wedding day."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"Till I decided I couldn't marry her."  
  
"What- Really? What about Violet? Is she okay?"  
  
"Violet was the one who suggested we don't get married, right infront of the congregation mind, but she said it. She allowed me to escape and leave - to get the first train I could here."  
  
"What about the money?"  
  
"It doesn't matter. Not if I have you, money doesn't mean anything if I get to have you."  
  
"Is this all real? This isn't another cruel dream?"  
  
"This is very real Lofty. As real as the cap you left behind in the manor." Smirked Dom as he produced the cap from one of his bags. Lofty smiled as he took the cap from Dom's hands and placed it on his head.  
  
"I did miss my cap, but I missed you so much more. Wait what about everyone else? Are they okay with you just running away?"  
  
"I've paid the workers enough to support themselves for the next six months each. Besides, I'm not running away, I'm coming home! That is, of course, if you'll still have me?"  
  
Lofty looked at him for a long while before responding, his face blank and unreadable, "Come inside."  
  
Dom did just that, without hesitating he stepped inside to the cottage and took in his surroundings: the walls were bare, the fireplace was empty, little to no furniture and there was no food, "Looks like we have some work to do-"  
  
But Dom's words were cut off by a kiss from Lofty, at first it seemed it would finish quickly, but as the two allowed the moment to last, so did the kiss. Before things grew too passionate the pair parted from their connection, Lofty looked into Dom's eyes and Dom look right back; unwavering, definite. Real.  
  
"Just us?" Asked Lofty his eyes full of hope.  
  
"Just us." Confirmed Dom.  
  
As soon as Dom said those words Lofty hugged him tightly, trying to make up for the two weeks of absence with a single gentle hold - it was close, but not quite enough. Dom silently cursed at himself for having wasted so much time, since he now knew just how much he missed Lofty. They held each other much longer than they had kissed, it was a sweet moment that neither wanted to break, eventually to two emotionally drained lovers had to break from the hug. Both Dom and Lofty had tears in their eyes, happy tears, bittersweet tears, but certainly not tears of sadness.  
  
"I'm going to sell the manor, and all my expensive clothes. That way we can buy furniture and food and clothes that'll last. And I'll get a job and work. We can finally be together. No one knows I'm here."  
  
"No one knows I'm here either. Didn't even tell Alec; I should probably write to him soon to say I'm okay."  
  
"We're together now, for now and for always, I have an idea." Said Dom as he produced the two wedding bands from his pocket.  
  
"Promise rings?"  
  
"Wedding rings."  
  
"We can't get married. No one would accept us. "  
  
"Well we can get married here. Right now. It won't be official, but it's the next best thing I suppose."  
  
"Alright, let's do it."  
  
"I hope you have your vows prepared."  
  
"I'm pretty good at improv." Joked Lofty as Dom gave him one of the wedding bands.  
  
"Right, prove it then, you can go first. Make them good." Smirked Dom.  
  
Lofty cleared his throat with a cough before continuing, "Right, well um... Dominic. We met at the factory I worked at, you fired me in under thirty seconds then rehired me as your footman a few days later. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would fall in love with you let alone runaway to Yorkshire for a slim chance of being with you. I didn't think it was possible to love someone, so whole heartedly, so nervewrackingly confident in my feelings, I felt my heart break as I shut that manor door behind me... But I don't regret it, now we're here together, finally, so I make a promise to you now to never let you get away again."  
  
Dom was frozen, Lofty's words had touched him deeply, and for a split second his mind had gone blank with what to say next.  
  
"I think this is the part where you respond." Smirked Lofty.  
  
"Oh, God, sorry. I, I dunno how I'm meant to outdo that. But I'll give it a go." Dom coughed to clear his throat before he continued to speak, "Ben 'Lofty' Chiltern. The man I once didn't like at all becuase you blew up my machine. You entered my home and soon enough entered heart - which was a very difficult place to enter at the time. When I realised I loved you I didn't know what to do, but at the thought of losing you all I could do was think about how I never even told you how much you mean to me; how much I love you. But now I'm here, you're no longer struck with sickness or hiding away in a place I cannot find you. You're here infront of me and all I can think is that I couldn't be as happy as I am right now - getting 'married' to the one I truly love."  
  
The pair enchanged their rings, both of the wedding bands fit the pair perfectly, Violets ring had come far too large, and they had to use it for the ceremony, but since she was no longer in need of it, it seemed like fate that the ring fit Lofty perfectly instead.  
  
"I now pronounce us husband and..." Dom's words trailed off as he thought of  what to say, the term 'Husband and Wife' not being fitting for what they were doing.  
  
"Husband?"  
  
"Yes, I now pronounce us husband and husband. Mr Chiltern you may now kiss the groom."  
  
The two sealed their last minute and unofficial marriage with a kiss, a quick but tender one, as to not over do or under do the moment.  
  
"Can't wait for the honeymoon." Joked Lofty.  
  
"I was think we could have it in a nicely sized cottage in the middle of Yorkshire where no-one else can find us." Smiled Dom.  
  
"Oh really? I'd've never have guessed."  
  
"And then I was thinking we could spend the rest of our lives together in that cottage?"  
  
"Now that sounds like a good idea."  
 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may or may not be the final chapter...
> 
> UNLESS
> 
> You guys want me to do a follow up one on them living together???


End file.
